


The flaming twin exorcists

by Sylene_Bloodrose



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amaimon makes an appearance, F/M, Mephisto is up to something, Rewrite of old story, Rin and Yukio get a little sister, Rin and Yukio start high school, She is best dad, Shiro and Yuri as slowing getting closer together, Shiro is doing his best to be a good daddy, Shura officially makes her appearance, Time Jump, more tags will be added as story continues, the twins are raised in New York instead of Japan, will have a slow slart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2020-10-26 22:10:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 44,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20749553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylene_Bloodrose/pseuds/Sylene_Bloodrose
Summary: When Yuri survived giving birth to Rin and Yukio, Shiro decided to help her raise them in hiding. With Mephisto's help, the two fake their deaths and flee Japan. Now living in New York, Shiro and Yuri will do whatever it takes to protect their family from all whose who wish to harm them. Even those who they once called friends.Now growing up in a different environment, how will differently will Rin and Yukio end up being? Watch them make new friends and enemies along the way as they discover their heritage and choose for themselves what they want to be.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, anyone who has read this story on Fanfiction might find this to be familiar. Which means i'm planning to continue this story, yay!
> 
> I started writing this story about four years ago and posted it to Fanfiction, but never finished it. Now i'm going back to it and i'm rewriting the chapters, starting with the prologue. Which means I originally wrote this long before the official backstory in the manga, so this story won't fallow it and will be closer to the anime version, but not really fallowing that either. At the time I was writing this based on what we knew in the manga, but there will be some changes to reference what we know now in the manga.
> 
> Anyone who has read the original should be able to notice what was changed and added in. I will be updating this on Fanfiction soon, so it will be posted to both. I'll be working on the other chapters soon, but for now enjoy the prologue.

Prologue

The sound of snow crunching beneath his boots was all Shiro could hear as he walked through the silent forest. It was currently winter, just after Christmas, and the air around him was cold and frigid. Clumps of snow clung to his clothes and hair as he made his way through the icy snow. If Shiro could be anywhere right now, it would be someplace with a heater, and not in the middle of nowhere like he is currently. A cloud of respiration clung around his face as the exorcist exhaled. A heavy sigh rested on his lips. It had been a few months sense he first started to look for Yuri Egin, the young woman who had become pregnant with the spawn of Satan. Even now the thought caused a cold lump, with had nothing to do with the weather, to settle into his stomach. His heart clinched at the thought of how close Yuri had become close with that think. If only he had just…no, there was no point thinking about that now. It was too late to think about his own feelings anyway. 

He was still hard to believe, even now when he was making his way through the cold, desolate forest, that a young exorcist like Yuri could have allowed herself to be fooled by the demon of all demons. Anyone could tell that something like that couldn’t understand love. A demon might find humans fascinating, but they could never really love them the way a human could. They weren’t built that way, they weren’t capable of it. Shiro gritted his teeth, forcing himself to push that train of thought away. He needed to stay focused. The last thing he needed was to get lost in thought and trip over a root or something. That would be embarrassing, but even if he did it’s not like there was anyone else around to see it happen. It was the principle of the matter, and Shiro refused to give whatever animal that might be watching the satisfaction of watching him face plant in the snow. 

Shiro Fujimoto is a young man in his mid thirties, despite his natural light gray hair and red eyes which were an oddity on its own. A deep frown was currently on his pale face as he continued to walk through thick snow, a track of foot prints being left behind that was quickly being covered with fresh snow that continued to fall. Considering that red was not a natural human eye color, his eyes has always made people give him a double took to make sure they weren’t seeing thinks. It has always been a pain, but Shiro had grown use to it growing up. There might have been a demon ancestor in his family, but no one knows for certain. Especially sense Shiro had never been close with his family. But what Shiro did know was that he had gotten his eyes from his dad, who had passed away when he was very young. 

Shiro was tall and slender, being of average build. He was a handsome man, even with his glasses, which in Shiro’s opinion just made him look ever sexier. He has always been a cold and distant person, always fallowing orders with a serious demeanor. He never really meant to come off that way, but he just wasn’t very good in casual situations. If there was something that anyone could say about him, it was that he always completed the mission assigned to him, making sure what has to be done is done.

But now, he wasn’t sure if he could follow through with the orders the Vatican had given him. Just thinking about it caused his stomach to twist with nausea. A part of him knew this had to be done, while another part screamed at him that this wasn’t right. That this would make him no different than the demons he has sworn to destroy. A sword in a bright blue sheath was strapped to his back. It was a demon slaying sword known as the koma sword, or Kurikara. Shiro would never forget how he came to be in possession of Kurikara. It had been one instance story. After it was discovered that Yuri was caring the spawn of Satan, he had been sent to retrieve the sword to use to exorcise the child. And if Shiro was to be honest, that was just a way of trying to sugar coat the fact that they wanted him to kill Yuri’s unborn baby, as well as her. And that was something Shiro felt himself doubting he could actually bring himself to do. He had gone to steal the sword from the Myōō Dharani temple and had ended up instead being given the sword instead as thanks for helping cure the toxin poisoning that that afflicted the temple. The head priest, Tatsuma Suguro had been the one to give Kurikara to him. The man has risked a lot helping Shiro, though considering the fact that he had saved the lives of Tatsuma’s wife and unborn child; it seemed like a fare trade to take the empty sword. It’s not like they really needed it anyway.

The sky darkened, as night approached, Shiro stopped and leaned against a tree to rest. Leaning his head against the cold bark, Shiro thought back to when he first met Yuri Egin. Yuri had just become a lower 2nd class exorcist and had been put on his team for her first real mission as an exorcist. She wasn’t much younger then himself, about four years if he remembered correctly. She had long brown hair and turquoise eyes. Despite being a young adult, Yuri looked young for her age, making her look as though she was a teen instead of in her twenties. Her wide eyed wonder and interest in the unknown had been a pain since day one, which he had made clear. But Shiro had also found it enduring in a way he couldn’t explain. Her world view was just so different then his, it was strangely refreshing, though he would never attempt it. The two had clashed over views, neither willing to back down. She was a bull headed as he was; her strong will butting heads with his own.

On many occasions Shiro had been the mature one and ended the argument for the sake of the mission. He knew that the young women’s softness towards demons would get her into trouble one of these days; he just didn’t realize just how much he was right. He wishing he had been wrong. Yuri Egin had gone on a many other missions with his team after that. Over time Shiro and Yuri had wormed up to each other. Over the years Shiro couldn’t help but notice that he had grown fond of the strange woman know as Yuri Egin. He didn’t know when it happened, but before he knew it, Shiro enjoyed her company, and with the way he had seen her blush more and more they interacted, Shiro had started to suspect she might feel the same way. But now, he wasn’t sure anymore. 

Looking back on it now, Shiro shouldn’t be surprised this happened. She was to kind for her own good. Always wanting to see the good, even when there wasn’t any. Pulling a cigarette from his pocket, the exorcist plopped in his mouth and lit it. He needed a smoke to help his increasing nerves. Could he really do this? Could he harm a child that was part of Yuri? Regardless of its father, it was still Yuri’s child. Shiro pushed the thought away, it was Satan’s child as well, a creature as that was too dangerous to be left alone. Why did he have to feel so conflicted about this, it shouldn’t be difficult, but it was. It was clear that they had chosen him for this mission was because they believed Yuri would let her guard down around him. The thought make him feel ill.

It was getting colder and Shiro knew he would have to find shelter for the night. Once night fell, the demons would come out and become more active. He clutched his scarf closer to himself in a feeble attempt to cling to warmth. Shiro hoped he would find her this time; he had a hunch about this place. He might not have known how far along Yuri was when she disappeared, but he knew she had to be close to giving birth if not already. It had been several months now, and if Shiro was to be honest with himself, deep down he hoped he never found her. He can’t kill what he can’t find. The upper class exorcist was about to stop and make camp for the night when he saw it. Chimney smoke rose above the trees, giving indication that someone was living close by. A cold feeling settled in his gut. Shiro didn’t know what he would do if it was Yuri. He knew what he had to do, what had to be done. He hoped he was wrong, that it was just someone else who happened to live in the woods. 

Shiro clinched his fists and quickened his pace, following the smoke trail. It didn’t take long for him to step out into a small clearing. A little wooden cabin sat in the middle of clearing. Little flurries of snow coming down gave the place a winter wonder land kind of feel. The cabin appeared to be in good condition from the outside and had a cutesy look that Shiro could picture Yuri owning. Raising his fist to knock on the door, Shiro stopped at the last second when he hears the sound of a baby’s laughter and the unmistakable voice of Yuri Egin. Shiro’s breath caught in his throat, he actually found her. After months of searching, Shiro didn’t know if this was a good thing or not. 

Pushing his self doubt away, the upper classed exorcist steeled his resolve and slowly opened the door. He then walked inside, but not before dropping his cigarette to burn out in the snow. It was an instinctive reaction. Yuri didn’t like it when he smoked around her. So he doubted she would appreciate him smoking around her baby as well. Shiro shook his head, what was he thinking, he was here to kill the spawn of Satan, what did it matter if he smoked. God he was to emotionally attached to this. Why did they want him to do it again? There was no point questioning it now that he actually found her.

It was only when Shiro walked further inside that he heard a second voice, a very familiar voice at that. And just like with Yuri, Shiro would have recognized this voice from anywhere. So that was how Yuri escaped the order before Shiro could return with the koma sword. He should have known that demon had been involved. The real question was why though. What did he have to get out of this; this wasn’t any of his business. Shiro gritted his teeth in annoyance. Why did that clown have to involve himself? He was only going to make this even more difficult, Shiro was curtain of it. 

Silently making his way through the small kitchen and sitting room, Shiro stopped outside of the door leading to what he assumed to be the bedroom. If Shiro had been paying attention, he would have noticed the capon was just as nice looking on the inside as it had been on the outside. The wooden walks and flooring with its simple wooden furnishings gave the place a warm welcoming feel that anyone would love to spend time in. There was even a fire in a small fire place, a little chair with a cushion set beside it. But all Shiro could focus on was the door separating him from Yuri, heisting as he felt his mouth go dry. This was it, Shiro had to choice. He knew what had to be done, but could he do it. He had to, didn’t he? There was no other choice, wasn’t there? No, there wasn’t, he would be seen as a traitor if he didn’t. He couldn’t help her if they were both wanted.

“You can come in Shiro, we know your there.” The sound of Mephisto’s calm playful voice pulled Shiro out of his spiraling thoughts. Mephisto’s sudden words had caught him off guard him had startled Shiro to the point that he had almost jumped in inch of the ground. He even felt his heart skip a beat, he hadn’t expected that. Though he should have, of course that demon would know if Shiro was standing outside the door, that man practically knew everything going on around him. Slowing Opening up the bedroom door, Shiro stepped into the doorway and looked around the small room. It was a bedroom just as he had thought. The only furniture to be seen was a simple double bed, which Yuri was currently laying on, a side table next to the bed, and a small dresser with a small round mirror handing on the wall above it. Mephisto stood beside the young woman, a look on his face that suggested that he found the situation amusing, Shiro didn’t. If anything, he wanted to wipe it right off that demon’s smug face, but even Shiro knew that wasn’t going to happen. 

“It took you longer to find Yuri then I originally thought. It’s a shame you didn’t make it in time to see Yuri have these precious babies.” Mephisto said with a grin on his face as she shook his head in mock disappointment. Before Shiro could remind him that he was here to kill the child, his brain processed what the purple haired demon had just said. Babies? As in plural? Looking over at Yuri Shiro finally noticed that she wasn’t holding just one baby but two. In her arms Yuri held two small bundles; one in each arm as she laid back, propped up with a bunch of billows. Yuri had given birth to twins? The exorcist felt his head spin, was this really happening right now? And here Shiro thought that she couldn’t surprise him with anything else. Walking up to the bed, Shiro numbly took a closer look at the infants. The babies were wrapped in blankets to keep them warm, both appearing to be fast sleep against Yuri’s chest. Shiro didn’t think the added worm was necessary since both children were engulfed in blue flames. The sight was captivating just as it was equally disturbing. Babies shouldn’t be on fire! It amazed Shiro that Yuri hadn’t been burned by the flames of her children as she held them close to her body. Yuri looked up at Shiro and completely stunned him with a simple question. Her eyes filled with a trust that Shiro didn’t believe he deserved. 

“Do you want to hold one of them Shiro.”

The upper classed exorcist took a step back, his breath catching in his throat. How could she ask him that when he was supposed to kill these babies? He couldn’t risk becoming attached to them. Shiro knew right at that moment that if he held his arms out and did as she asked there would be no going back. Misunderstanding his retreat, the young mother continued to speak, her voice, which Shiro loved to hear, filled with reassurance. “It’s ok Shiro. Their flames won’t hurt you. I’ve been holding them all day and I’m complete fine.” Yuri gave him a warm smile, a smile that made Shiro’s heart ache. “It’s completely safe, they don’t bit; they don’t even have any teeth yet.” Yuri laughed at her own joke, all the while Shiro didn’t know what to do. Then his body moved on its own.

Shiro will never know why he did what he was about to do. Without even thinking, stepping closer to the bed and Yuri, he reached his arms out. Yuri handed one of the babies to him. The tiny bundle was so light in his arms that for a moment Shiro was scarred he would accidentally drop the baby. The sight of his teeny-tiny face made Shiro’s heart twitch. How could something that was supposed to be evil look so angelic. It was hard to wrap his brain around.

“His name is Rin, isn’t he just beautiful.” Yuri said, her eyes gazing at the child Shiro now held awkwardly in his arms. He had never held a child before and this whole situation was putting him out of his comfort zone. But at the same time, a warmth was starting to settle in his chest the longer he looked at the sleeping baby’s face. Yuri continued to speak, “And this one is right here is Yukio, just as precious as his brother. I still can’t believe I was carrying twins this whole time and didn’t realize it. Aren’t I lucky?” Shiro wasn’t sure about that, but at least he knew that the babies were boys, not that it really mattered. Rin, the baby currently asleep in Shiro’s arms, was wrapped in a blue blanket while Yukio was wrapped in a yellow blanket. Shiro was surprised that the blanket colors could be seen through the thick blue flames. 

And speaking of flames, Shiro continued to hold Rin in his arms as he couldn’t get over how the flames didn’t harm him. It wasn’t even HOT! The flames that covered the baby boy was warm and loving, the pure opposite of how he thought that they would be. He had expected it to have been like their father, violent and pure destruction. But that wasn’t what Shiro was seeing at all. Before his very eyes, Shiro gazed at the pure innocence of a newborn baby that, it his newly started life, knew nothing but love. The little baby opened his blue eyes and stared up at him with wonder. It seems he had woken up. The infant then began to giggle, reaching his tiny hands up to Shiro’s face in an attempt to grab his glasses.

Shiro pulled his face back to keep his glasses out of the child’s range of reach. And it was at that moment that Shiro knew that this child was innocent, he didn’t deserve to die, nor did his sleeping brother. Shiro finally realized that he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t kill these children, not now. Though a part of him whispered that he never would have been able to. That he could never hurt Yuri that way. He <strike>love</strike> cared for her to much. 

“So what are you going to do now Shiro?” Mephisto said as gave him a knowing look, his gaze giving the impression that he could read his mind. Shiro sighed and looked away, not wanting to meet the demon’s gaze. “I don’t know. I know I can’t kill them, but I don’t know what I’m going to do. How would we even begin to hide them when their engulfed in flames like this. It would be a dead giveaway.” Yuri gave him a warning glare. She probably didn’t like that he had even considered harming her children. He couldn’t blame her there; any mother would have had the same reaction. Mephisto waved his concerns away.

“You don’t have to worry about; I can handle this no problem. All you have to do is hand me that sword you got there.” Mephisto pointed to Kurikara still strapped to Shiro’s back. Which he had almost forgotten was there. Shiro didn’t trust Mephisto as far as he could throw him, which Shiro honestly knew he actually couldn’t. But he handed over the requested item anyway. Mephisto pulled the sword from its carry bag, then help out the still sheathed sword. Both Shiro and Yuri watched in amazement as Mephisto spoke some kind of spell under his breath in a voice Shiro didn’t understand. Rin’s flames began to pull away from his body, flowing into Kurikara. The flames were quickly sealed away within the koma sword, Rin’s body no longer covered in a blanket of flames. Mephisto sat down the sword and gave the remaining flaming child a thoughtful look.

Then without warning, an amazed look appeared on his face as he proclaimed, “I knew that would come in handy somehow.” Mephisto snapped his fingers and a small wooden box appeared in a buff of pink smoke. Opening the box, the demon pulled out a simple hand gun, the kind that all dragoons are first given to use to train with. Shiro gave the demon a questioning look while Yuri glared at him, tightening her hold on Yukio. Mephisto ignored this reaction as continued to say, “Long story short a young fire demon tried to posses this gun a few years back and got trapped inside. It just happened to recently escape… ” And by that, he most likely means, ‘he let it out’… “And this gun has now become an empty vessel, like the Kurikara. Though it’s not quite as strong as it unfortunately, but it’s all we’ve got.” Shiro raised an eyebrow at the sheer coincidence of the situation. That gun just happened to have a demon get stuck inside and create a vessel to use just when they needed it? The clown’s hands were all over this. But just as Mephisto had said, it’s all they had.

Mephisto repeated the sell, this time sealing Yukio’s flames into the gun. Now both children were free of flames. Looking down at Rin, Shiro noticed that Rin had drifted back to sleep in his arms, his tiny chest rising and falling as he breathed. It was the most adorable think Shiro had ever seen. Mephisto then placed the gun back into the wooden box. “You see the seal on the gun is the safety twitch. If the safety is taken off, the seal will brake and Yukio will once more be engulfed in flames.” He then pointed to the sword leaning against the dresser. “The same applies to the koma sword, if the sword is ever unsheathed, Rin will also return to his true form. Understand?” Both Shiro and Yuri nodded their heads. Mephisto handed the sword back to Shiro, who then handed Rin back to his mother so he could put the sword back into its blue carrying bag and into his back. Mephisto then handed Shiro the box with the gun inside.

“There you go, problem solved,” Mephisto said as he pretended to just his hands off like he had done some hard work. He then gave Shiro a pointed look. “So Shiro, if you’re not going to fallow the Gregory’s orders then what will you do. You know if this ever came out you will be tried for treason.” Shiro didn’t need to be told that, he already knew. He then looked over to Yuri who was now holding two normal looking children. She looked so beautiful, he loved her so much. Shiro’s eyes widened when he thought that. He instantly knew it was true. He had been in denial for so long, but looking at Yuri now, that was all he could think. He loved Yuri Egin and would do anything to protect her and her children. Shiro knew what he wanted to do. Giving Mephisto his most serious look, he said, “I’m going to protect Yuri and her children.” His gaze softened as it turned to Yuri. “I’ll even help you raise them if you would let me.”

A blush crept up Yuri’s face as stuttered out, “I would love that, but what about the Vatican, if you don’t go back, they will look for you. Are you sure you want to do that Shiro?” Shiro nodded his head, “Of course I do, I…I love you Yuri, and I would do anything for you.” It had slipped out before Shiro even realized he had said it. Now his face was heating up. Yuri’s eyes then sparkled in a way Shiro had only ever seen a few times. “I love you to Shiro; I have for a while now.”

Before either of them could say anything else, Mephisto stepped in. “While this is a touching moment, we should wrap this up. Yuri dose have a point, they will want to know what happened if you don’t return, as well as the fates of Yuri and her child.” For once Mephisto had taken on a serious expression. “That’s why I already came up with a plan for just this outcome.” Shiro opened his mouth to ask what he meant, but Mephisto cut him off, “We’re going to fake your death, as well as Yuri’s. And that’s just the start. For this to work, if would be best for the both of you to leave Japan all together with the babies are raise them somewhere you two won’t have to worry about being recognized.” A part of Shiro hated the idea of faking his death, but he knew this was the best option. Shiro then thought about the little girl named Shura he had taken in not too long ago and felt a pang of guilt. He would have to leave her behind; she would believe his false death and would morn. No matter how much the thought hurt, this had to be done. It was his only option now. 

“How exactly are you going to fake my death exactly?” Shiro asked out of curiosity. Mephisto waved his question off. “You don’t need to worry about that. I have everything handled.” Shiro scowled at the demon for not answering his question. But before he could snap at him, Yuri asked a question of her own. “When are we leaving?” Mephisto snapped his fingers and replied, “Right now!” Shiro felt something heavy drop into his coat pocket. Shiro pulled out two thick wallets that Mephisto had made appear. “Those great quality wallets hold your new identities and everything you’ll need to start your new lives with. I even placed the twin knew born certificates in there. They will need one after all.” Mephisto then turned on his heel and faced the closed door leading back to the sitting room. Pulling out a key, Mephisto slid it into the doors lock and turned it. “You don’t need to worry about taking anything; beyond this door is a place all set up for you, everything you might need is already there waiting for you.” Shiro and Yuri both nodded their heads. Mephisto turned back to face them, and then handed Shiro a second key that was identical to the one he had just used. “Here you go.” Shiro took it without a word. 

“I hope you enjoy New York.”

The demon poofed away before they could respond, nether expecting to be sent to America. Helping Yuri from the bed, Shiro helped her over to the door. Sense Mephisto had already opened the pathway; the only think they had to do was walk through. On the other side was the inside of a small cozy looking apartment. The two looked at each other one more time before and stepped through to start their new lives. The door shutting closed behind them.

Back at the Vatican Mephisto was shocked to see the devastation that had occurred will he had been gone. It would seem that Satan had devastated the True cross order while trying to find Yuri. He knew his father had been desperate to create a vessel strong enough to hold him, but to have caused all of this because he couldn’t get what he wanted? It sent a shudder down even Mephisto’s spine.

Not long after returning, Mephisto found himself standing before the Grigori giving an account for what had transpired with Yuri Egin, her child and Shiro Fujimoto. With an act he could have gotten an award for, Mephisto explained the tragic death of Shiro Fujimoto that unexpectedly seemed to fit in with what would become the blue night. The higher ups had eaten up what he had said; only a few had doubt.

“When Shiro and I found Yuri, she had just given birth. The child had ended up being a still born, while tragic; at least no blood had to be spilled. No one likes the idea of killing a baby, even a demon one.” A few had nodded in understanding. “Sadly the pregnancy had taken too much out of her, and consumed with the loss of her child Yuri died not long afterwards. Shiro Then went to remove their bodies from the cabin we had found them in, in order bury them with dignity, but before he could, Satan appeared and in a blinding rage set the cabin ablaze. I just barely got out myself and was unable to save Shiro.” This statement being backed up with the burns on his clothing Mephisto had made as proof of his story. “Shiro was killed and his body burned to ashes along with Yuri and her child.” The Grigori had no reason to believe he was lying, which he was of course. But with the great lose they had faced this night; one more didn’t make a difference. When Mephisto was dismissed, he went back to the cabin and burned it to the ground, just to be on the safe side.

Elsewhere in America, Shiro and Yuri were looking around there new home, trying to get a feel for the place, and a sense of the layout. A note was quickly found on the refrigerator, being held there by an ice cream cone shaped magnet. It read.

_I hope you have good luck in raising the twins, if you need anything just give me a call. _

A number was written underneath, which Shiro knew had to be one of many that Mephisto had. Shiro looked over at Yuri and smiled, this is where there new lives would begin, this is where her children will grow up safe. Safe and protected.


	2. chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Yuri become closer as they settle into their new lives and start becoming a family. Plus Kuro makes an appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, here is the rewrite of Chapter 1. For those who have read the original will notice how very different it is from the original. That’s because unlike the prologue, which I simply went over and added more details, this chapter was completely rewritten from the ground up. I also indeed up splitting this chapter up sense it got a bit too long, so I should be finished with chapter 2 pretty soon.

It didn’t take long for Yuri to find the bedrooms; the lights were already on so she didn’t have to worry about stumbling around in the dark with a pair of babies. Down a hallway that branched off from the living room were four doors. Two doors lined the right side, one on the left and the last one was positioned at the very end of the hallway. Shiro opened the first along the hallway for her sense, obviously, her hands were currently full. It’s not easy carrying about two babies, no matter how small they were. Shiro flipped on a light switch, brightening up the dark room. Yuri stepped within the room and was blown away at what she saw. The young exorcist, or former exorcist to be precise, looked around the beautifully decorated nursery she now stood in. The walls were painted a soft yellow with images of white fluffy clouds and rainbows decorating the walls around her. A pair of identical wooden cribs sat side by side against a wall, both looking to be of great quality. A colorful dresser stood on the opposite wall, most likely filled with clothing for the babies. There was even a table for them to use to change diapers on. The room had everything the twins needed, just like Sir Pheles had said.

Yuri shifted her gaze to Shiro, who was currently focusing on the colorful dresser. Well it wasn’t the dresser to be exact, but the numerous packs of diapers that sat on top. Yuri had to hold back a snicker at the face he was making. It was as though when he saw the pack of diapers that he realized that he would have to actually change one. And to be far, Yuri couldn’t see Shiro knowing how to do that, she doubted he ever even changed one before. But to be far, Yuri didn’t have much experience in that department either. She hadn’t exactly grown up around younger children. The only experience Yuri had with babies was when she had babysat for a friend several years back. It hadn’t been hard to figure out how the diapers went; it had been pretty self explanatory.

Looking down at her little angels, Yuri couldn’t help but smile at the sight of their little faces. They were her precious babies. But no matter how much she loved holding them, Yuri needed to put them down, her arms were starting to get tiered from holding them for so long. “Hey Shiro,” the dark haired woman called out to the other, “will you help we put them into their cribs?”A little help didn’t hurt after all. Shiro turned red eyes her way, “sure of course.” The tall grey haired man walked over to Yuri and gently took Rin from her. Shiro once again held Rin in his arms, the baby once again asleep. Looking over to the dresser, Shiro asked, “Shouldn’t we but some clothes on them first so they won’t get cold? There should be clothes for them in that dresser.” That was a good idea actually. Yuri walked over to the dresser and opened up the top drawer, which had been painted a bright shade of blue. Inside was dozens of pairs of tiny footy pajamas, as well as other baby clothes that could be slept in. Yuri grabbed a yellow onesie with images of puppies on it. She quickly changed a sleeping Yukio into the onesie, carefully making sure she didn’t wake him up in the process.

The twins already had diapers on; Yuri had been living in that cabin sense she escaped and had been prepared for her children’s birth. Though to be honest, she didn’t even know she was having more than one baby until she had felt the second contractions. Mephisto had been the one to help her escape the order, and had even led her to the cabin she had called home for the past several months. He had dropped in every once in a while, but that had been far and in between. Yuri knew that he was risking a lot when he showed up and knew that he couldn’t risk drawling attention to himself. Especially when a few of the higher ups were already suspicious of him.

It had been good timing on his part that Mephisto had shown up for one of his unscheduled visits just before Yuri’s water had broken. Considering the delicate matter of her carrying the children of Satan, Mephisto couldn’t trust anyone else to help her and ended being the one to help her give birth. He had even quickly washed them up and wrapped them in the little blankets they had been in when Shiro had arrived. That had been early that morning back in Japan, not to long before Shiro had shown up. Mephisto had expressed his shock of how long it was taking Shiro to find her, which was strange considering just how far Mephisto had stuck his neck out to help her in the first place. But what had surprised her the most, was how the constantly joking, shady demon known as Mephisto Pheles had helped her in her time of need. She would never understand his reasoning behind it. At the time, Yuri had been too exhausted to do much of anything other than just lay in bed recovering from popping out two flaming babies. That would probably exhaust anyone if Yuri was to be honest. Yuri would never forget the kindness the demon had shown, even though she knew it wasn’t for her benefit.

Yuri then gently laid down the newly dressed Yukio into one of the cribs. Running a hand through his soft black hair, which was the same color as her own, Yuri couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have these precious bundles of joy in her life. Glancing over at Shiro, Yuri saw that he had fallowed her example. He was changing putting Rin into a little blue onesie with darker blue stripes. And like his brother, Rin remained asleep while Shiro did this. Once Rin was placed into the crib, Shiro let out a yawn. He was most likely tired, which shouldn’t be a surprise. They did just teleport across time zones. It had been getting dark when Shiro had shown up considering that Mephisto said that they were heading to New York, there should be a thirteen hour time difference. Noticing a digital close on the wall, Yuri saw that it was yearly in the morning. The sun hadn’t even started to rise yet, which should have been obvious sense all they had to do was look outside the window and is it was dark outside. Yuri herself wasn’t very tired, but she could always use a nap. After checking on the twins one more time, Yuri walked over to where a nightlight was plugged into the wall and turned it on. “Let’s let them sleep and explore the house some more,” Yuri whispered to her companion as she made her way back to the door.

Shiro simply nodded and fallowed her out; flipping of the light as he softly closed the door behind him. Yuri then opened up the next door over. It was dark inside just like the nursery, which wasn’t surprising. Switching the lights on, Yuri saw that it was a simple bedroom that had the feel of a guest room. The room itself was bear of decorations and was only furnished with the basic necessities. A twin sided bed was pushed into the far corner by a window, a nightstand sat beside it with a lamp and digital clock on top. The only other furnishings to be seen was a wooden dresser and a long rectangular mirror hanging on the wall above it. The walls were covered in the same cream colored wallpaper as the hallway and living room, even the floor was the same smooth wood as the rest of the apartment. The only other thing to be noticed was a simple round rug that rested in the middle of the floor. With nothing else to note, Yuri switched of the light and moved on to the room across the hall, though it seemed that Shiro had beet her to it.

Yuri stepped into a medium sized western styled bathroom. It looked completely different then what Yuri was used to. A bathtub-shower combo was built into the side of one side of the room. There was a glass sliding door built into the tub to give privacy. It seemed kind of small in Yuri’s opinion. But considering it was most likely build for one person, it made sense. Long another wall was a long counter with a sink positioned in the middle. There were even cabinets above the sink with mirrors build into the front. Despite how simple it appeared, the bathroom was completely furnished with everything they would need. Towels and rags, as well as all sorts of hygiene products filled the shelves that lined a corner of the bathroom. There was even a fluffy looking rug laid out in front of the tub to keep the marble tile from getting wet. Lastly, there was a high up toilet with a rail built into the wall beside it as well as a laundry basket.

It only took a few seconds for Yuri to take all of that in; the bathroom wasn’t that big after all. While Yuri had been taking everything in, Shiro’s focus had been focused on the mirror above the sink, as if checking his reflection. The young woman paid it no mind and made her way back to the hallway. There was only one room left to explore. The room at the end of the hallway ended up being the master bedroom. It was a good sized room with a closet on one side of the room. This room was furnished with a comfortable looking king sized bed with a thick comforter and dozens of billows on top. A large dresser with an attached mirror sat opposite from the bed. The top of the dresser was littered with many knickknacks as well as skin care products that Yuri recognized as her own. She even saw her jewelry box on top of the dresser as well. Walking up to the dresser, Yuri opened it up and saw that her clothes were inside. At least she won’t have to worry about buying new clothing. How Mephisto managed to get all of that here was a mystery.

Realizing that Shiro hadn’t fallowed her in, Yuri backtracked to the living room where Shiro was sitting on a black leather couch. Even the living room/dinning area was nicely decorated. A wide thick TV sat on a stand with what appeared to be a VCR player on a shelf underneath. The couch Shiro was sitting on was positioned in front of the TV with a recliner beside said couch with a glass coffee table sitting between the TV and couch. There was even a side table between the couch and recliner. The living room was pretty big open area. There was even a small rectangular table with several cushioned chairs tucked underneath. A flower pot with an assortment of fake flowers inside sat in the table’s center as decoration. There were even a couple doors to the side. Curious, Yuri checked them out. One led to a smell half bathroom with only a toilet and sink while the other was a small laundry room with a washing machine and dryer. Several shelves lined the wall and were full of all sorts of soaps and detergents.

Yuri then walked back over to where Shiro was and saw that he was looking through the thick wallets that Mephisto had given him just before he left. One of them sat on the coffee table while he looked through the other. She also saw the sword and the box with the gun that Mephisto had handed him. She was wondering where he had sat those down.

Having seen her standing there, Shiro picked up the other wallet and handed it to her, “Here, this one’s yours.” Now holding the wallet in her hands, Yuri opened it up and was greeted with an ID that caught her off guard. Mephisto had said that they would have new identities, so this shouldn’t have surprise her really. Pulling out the ID card, Yuri saw that the name printed on it was Yumi Okumura. So that was going to be her knew name, it wasn’t too bad if Yuri was to be honest. At least the picture used was a good one instead of a cringey bad one. Looking further, Yuri found what appeared to a debit card with her new name on it, as well as a sticker attached telling her everything she would need to know to activate it. Yuri couldn’t help but notice how everything was in English, which wasn’t a problem sense she did know the language very well. Opening up the inside pouch, Yuri pulled out several documents. The first one she unfolded was a false birth certificate for herself saying that she was born here in New York. The next two were the twins’ birth certificates, which also claimed they were born in New York. It also showed that Rin and Yukio’s official last names were Okumura now, which wasn’t that shocking sense it was her last name as well. But what surprised her were the names listed as their parents. 

Yuri spent a few more minutes looking over everything, making sure Mephisto hadn’t forgot anything in this crazy thought out plan of his. She had to admit, he had gotten everything planned out pretty fast, almost too fast. Yuri pushed that thought away, there was no point questioning something she would most likely never get an answer to. Looking over to a still sitting Shiro, Yuri noticed that he was looking intensely at a particulate document, his hand holding it rather tightly. Curious as to what it was, Yuri asked, “What document in that Shiro?” Instead of answering, Shiro simply handed the paper over while pinching the bridge of his nose. Confused by this, Yuri took the official looking document into her hands. When she looked at it she knew right away what had gotten under Shiro’s skin. It was a marriage certificate for a Shawn Okumura and Yumi Okumura. Yuri didn’t recognize the name ‘Shawn Okumura’ at first but when she looked back at Shiro it hit her.

That was most likely his new name. It then struck Yuri what this meant. She and Shiro were now legally married. Yuri felt her face heat up at the thought. Yea she might have thought about being with Shiro over the years, even though at the time she didn’t know he felt the same way. But now knowing that he cared for her the same way she did, it made them suddenly being married feel rushed. They hadn’t had a change to actually start dating or even properly get engaged. All of it almost overwhelmed her as she sat down beside Shiro. Not sure what else to say, Yuri simply said “I take it your name is Shawn now, right Shiro.” Thinking about it, it was kind of strange that Shiro had been given an English sounding name while she had kept a Japanese one, oh well, who knows what Mephisto was thinking anyway. Shiro sat down his new wallet and looked over to one of the windows that were covered with pulled down blinds. “He could have given us a warning before suddenly making us married,” Shiro said sounding irritated.

Making a pouty face, Yuri said playfully, “you don’t to marry me.” Shiro’s head snapped up at that, a blush creeping up his face, “I didn’t say that. I just meant that this is just too soon.” Yuri covered her mouth as she laughed. She knew what he meant. “I get that, but it makes sense considering your new name is on the twins’ new birth certificates.” As that sank it, Shiro gave her a perfect deer in the headlights look. It almost made Yuri laugh again. Shiro groaned as the back of his head collapsed into the top of the sofa. “Well it looks like Shawn Okumura has a lot on his plate.” After he said that, a long yawn escaped his mouth. Shiro stood up from the couch and pocketed his wallet. “I’m going to crash in the guest room; you can look around some more if you want.” With that said, Shiro grabbed the box and sword, and made his way back down the hallway without waiting for a reply. Yuri couldn’t blame him for being tiered. Who knows how far he had traveled that day in order to find her. And considering it would be night time back in Japan, it would make sense for him to be ready to catch a few Z’s.

There were only a few places left for Yuri to check before she can say she surveyed the whole apartment. Walking into the nicely furnished kitchen, Yuri looked around at the shiny wooden counters with their black marble tops. There was even a small kitchen table pressed in one corner of the kitchen with three chairs around it. It was a beautifully modern looking kitchen with all of the appliances she would need to cook up a good meal. Yuri was confident about her cooking and knew her way around a kitchen. Which is why she loved how good quality the stove was and how the refrigerator was a double wide with plenty of space. Walking over to the cabinets, Yuri opened them up to find that they were fully stocked with all sorts of pots and pans, as well as shelves full of canned goods. At least they had been given food to start out with, that was a plus. Though at this point, was that really surprising considering everything else that had already been supplied? Noticing a small door near the back of the kitchen, Yuri opened it up and found a pantry which was also stocked. Looking closer, she even saw different types of baby formula for them to try.

Walking back into the living room, Yuri made her way to the main door that led out of the apartment. Curious as to what was outside; Yuri unlocked the door and opened it up. Poking her head out, Yuri only saw a simple hallway with other doors that led to other apartments. At one end of the hallway, Yuri could see an elevator, and on the other end was a sign displaying a stairway with an arrow pointing to a direction just out of her line of sight. Other then the garbage shoot built into the outside hallway, there wasn’t anything note worthy outside. Yuri locked the door back and head back to where the master bed room was. After a few minutes of searching through different drawers, Yuri found the one with her sleep clothes inside. After quickly changing into a long shirt and pajama bottoms, Yuri flipped off the lights. The room wasn’t as dark as it had been before, a small amount of light made its way in from the uncovered window. The sky outside was starting to brighten, marking the first day of their new lives. Collapsing onto her bed, Yuri closed her eyes and rested.

Later that day, Shiro woke up from a deep sleep. Sitting up, he rubbed sleep from his eyes as he let out a yawn. A part of him wanted to just lie back down for a few more minutes, but he knew he needed to get up. Well, he didn’t have to get up, but he knew he needed to if was going to be able to sleep that night. It was so strange waking up in this unfamiliar room. It was also a painful reminder of what he had given up. He had thrown away his whole life; he would never be able to go back. That sudden realization hit home like a ton of bricks. While he would never regret choosing Yuri, a part of him will always miss what he had. To be fair, Shiro had been about to be named the Paladin, the highest rank of exorcist one could achieve. Getting up, Shiro stretched his arms over his head. He hadn’t felt like changing, so he was still in the same clothes as before. The only difference being that he had taken off his exorcist jacket and hung it up in a small closet opposite from the bed. And speaking of the small closet, Shiro had also temporary stored the gun and sword in there until he could find a more suitable place to hide them. 

Looking down at the digital clock, Shiro saw that it was a bit past one, it was well past noon. As he made his way to the door, Shiro felt his stomach growl. Well it seemed like it was time to check out the kitchen. He hadn’t felt like it before, being tiered and all. Who knew what was in there. If Shiro was lucky, he might find something eat for breakfast, that is, if Mephisto was considerate enough to have it stocked with food for them. Walking over to one of the windows, Shiro looked outside and saw the city of New York, though just a small part of it from where he stood, covered in a layer of snow. If Shiro was to be honest, it looked beautiful. There were still Christmas decorations hanging from store windows and street lamps below. Well it was just two days after Christmas. Shiro had been so focused on tracking down Yuri that he had forgotten about the holiday. This had been one tense year. 

Stepping out of his room, Shiro noticed that the door to the nursery was open, the light from inside shining out into the hallway. Yuri must be checking on the twins. With that thought in mind, Shiro pocked his head into the doorway and just as he thought; saw Yuri sitting in a comfy looking chair by the cribs, one of the babies in her arms as she held a bottle up to his mouth. Shiro quickly noticed that the baby she held was wearing the same blue stripped onesie he had changed Rin early that morning. So that had to be Rin. Yuri looked up and saw Shiro, a smile forming on her small round face as she greeted him, “Hey Shiro, I see you’re up.” Shiro nodded, once again looking around the nursery. This time he noticed a closet door that he hadn’t noticed before.

“So, do you need any help, or do you have it covered,” Shiro couldn’t help but feel awkward, his gaze focused on everything but Yuri as he spoke. He truly did want to help her with the kids, but at the same time he was nervous about it. He didn’t know anything about caring for a baby, what if messed up or something. A part of him knew that he was being ridiculous, he had faced and killed countless of dangerous demons, and here he was freaking out over a baby!

Yuri responded with, “I’ve got Rin covered, but you can check on Yukio, he’s been pretty quiet. I’ve already fed him, so you don’t have to worry about that. Shiro walked over to the crib with the second baby inside. Little Yukio looked up at him with greenish-blue eyes that looked a lot like Yuri’s, but not quite the same. Yuri’s eyes were blue just like Rin’s. The baby had been looking around, his little head turning form one direction to the other. But once Shiro had appeared in his line of sight, Yukio’s attention focused on him. He stared at him with a curious look, and then laughed as he held his tiny hands up towards him. Shiro couldn’t help smiling at this. It was just too precious, not even Shiro Fujimoto was immune to it. The former exorcist leaned over and picked up the happy baby. But when he brought him close to his face, Shiro couldn’t help but notice a smell coming off of him. Realization dawned on Shiro as he pulled his face back a bit. He hadn’t been expecting that. Yukio didn’t seem to notice the mess he had made as his focus was entirely on gnawing on one of his little chubby fists. Glancing over to Yuri, Shiro saw that she was still feeding Rin. So here it was; Shiro was going to have to change his first diaper. I couldn’t be that hard, right?

And as it turns out, there was nothing to it. The worst part had been the clean up, but the rest of it was self explanatory, the wide part in the back and the narrower half in the front. As well as a little baby powder, there was nothing to it. He wondered why everyone acted like it was so horrible, it wasn’t that bad. When he was finished with that, Shiro then felt his stomach growl again. He almost forgot he was hungry. Yuri most have heard his stomach as well for she laughed from where she sat with Rin, “I think I’ve got it covered here, why don’t you go fix yourself something to eat.” That was all Shiro needed to hear as he gently laid Yukio back into his crib. Yukio got a bit fussy when he did this though. It was as if he was trying to say, ‘how dare you put me down.’ But he calmed down quickly after a few hushed words.

Making his way through the living room, Shiro didn’t notice the car carrier sitting in the middle of the floor until it was too late. One minute he was walking, the next think he knew his foot collided with something big, throwing him off balance. Shiro didn’t even have time to react as he fell face first onto the wooden floor with a loud thud. He even felt whatever he had tripped over tip over as well, which was followed by a startled hiss. A hiss that sounded awfully familiar. Pulling himself back onto his feet, Shiro rubbed his sore face and looked down. Lying on its side was a small pet carrier, the mews of a cat coming from inside of it. It couldn’t be, could it?

A small white paw poked out of the mettle cage opening, followed by mews that Shiro would recognize anywhere. Shiro straightened the carrier right side up; then looked inside. It was just as he thought; Kuro, Shiro’s faithful companion was inside giving him the skank eye. Well Shiro did knock his carrier over, by accident. Opening the latch, Kuro jumped out and looked around the apartment in wander. While Shiro was happy to see his familiar, he couldn’t help but wonder how he got here. The cat Sídhe should be back in Japan, guarding the True Cross’s Southern entrance, and yet here he was running around his living room.

Just as Shiro noticed a particular obnoxious pink sticky note with colorful stickers, Yuri appeared at the entrance to the hallway. “Shiro are you ok? I heard something fall.” Shiro nodded his head, pointing down to the carrier, “I’m fine, I just tripped over this think.” Yuri gave the black plastic carrier a questioning look as she walked over “How did that get here?” That’s what Shiro wanted to know. Pulling of the sticky note from the top of the carrier, Shiro saw a short note written in Mephisto’s annoying handwriting. Shiro swore that if he didn’t already know what Mephisto was like, he would have thought a teenage girl had written it. It was that obnoxious to look at. Written on the note was…

_I would have brought him in person, but with the way I’m being watched at the moment, that isn’t possible. Even though most of the higher ups bought my story, there are a few who are skeptical. I thought you would appreciate it; don’t say I never did anything for you._

_P.S. I forgot to tell you that the key I gave you can be used to create a pocket diminution to story away those sealed up weapons you’ve got, my bad. Anyway if you need anything, just give me a call, but make sure it’s an emergency, like a life threatening emergency._

_Love, Mephisto_

The end of the note was followed by dozens of smiley faces. How immature could that stupid clown be? Balling up the note, Shiro tossed it as he took a deep breath to calm his temper. Of course he would forget to mention something important like that, what else is he good for. Looking to a still curious Yuri, Shiro said, “Mephisto sent him, apparently he couldn’t come in person so he just sent him over.” Yuri nodded in understanding as she kneeled down to pet the small cat demon. Even though Shiro was happy to have his cat sent to him, he was also pissed that Mephisto had just put the carrier in the middle of the floor like that. What if Yuri had tripped over it while holding one of the babies? The thought made Shiro’s teeth clinch. That stupid clown needs to be more careful of where he left things.

Looking down at the cat, Shiro still remembered how he first met him. It had been a mission to a construction site where an old temple was being bulldozed. This had been about five years ago. It had been him, Yuri and a few other exorcists that had been assigned the mission to put a stop to the demon wrecking the place. The shrine that was being torn down had one belonged to a deity that had protected the silkworms in the past but had been love forgotten about. Shiro still recalled how Yuri insisted they hear the demon out; it had been one of the few times that Shiro had listened to the young tamer. She believed the demon was just sad about being forgotten and angry about its home being destroyed. At the time, Shiro had hated to admit she was right, but she had made a good point. So with a bottle of wine, Shiro had managed to make peace with the former deity and convinced him to become his familiar. Yuri had been over the moon, telling him that he was lucky to have a cat Sídhe as a familiar. Shiro hadn’t been to keen on having a demon fallow him around he had the cat demon, who Yuri named Kuro, become a guard for the True Cross. Gazing down at a happy Kuro, Shiro was happy that he had listened to Yuri that day.

Yuri stood back up from where she knelt next to Kuro. “How about I just fix the two of use something to eat sense I’m finished with the twins.” Shiro thought about it and nodded his head, Yuri was better at cooking then he was anyway. Besides, now that he knew what that key was actually for, he should use it to properly conceal Kurikara and the convenient gun as soon as he could. Those items were the only think between the twins and a normal life. Shiro would never let anything threaten that future, or their lives. Before he forgot, Shiro picked up the carrier and sat it down in the laundry room. He didn’t want anyone else tripping on it. Once was enough, thank you very much.

Back in the guest room, Shiro grabbed the key from his exorcist coat and inserted it into the bottom drawer of his dresser, which until a few minutes ago, he didn’t notice had a concealed key whole designed to blend in to the rest of the dresser. Turning the key, Shiro heard a click. Opening up the drawer, he saw that it looked different then it had before. Instead of a shallow drawer with his pants inside, he now stared at a deep compartment with rich brownish red velvet covering all sides. Quickly retrieving the sword and gun, Shiro placed them inside. The two demonic energy wielding objects both fit inside with no problem. Once Shiro re-closed the drawer and closed the small doorway to the secret pocket dimension, Shiro looked down at the key. He wasn’t sure what he should do with it. This key was just as important as what he locked away and he didn’t know how to protect it. Then an idea hit him. Walking into the master bedroom, Shiro stopped in front of the large dresser with Yuri’s things on top. Stopping a long thin chain with nothing on it, Shiro slid the chain through one of the holes on the end of the key then put it around his neck. Looking at his reflection, Shiro new that had been a good idea. Where else would have been better then to keep it then on his person. He hoped Yuri didn’t mind him using it. With that weight of his shoulders, Shiro headed to the kitchen to give her a hand.

As Shiro helped Yuri cook a late lunch, he couldn’t believe how lucky he was to be standing here right now. Even if he had to fake his death, even if the order would most likely brand him a traitor if they ever discovered the truth, it all paled in comparison to the beautiful raven haired woman beside him, her face lit up with a smile that had softened his own hard exterior. And with Kuro now on the counter watching them cook with a string of drool dripping from one side of his face, as well as the twins resting in there room, Shiro knew without a doubt he had made the right decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> before anyone asks, for the sake of this story, I’m having Kuro already be Shiro’s familiar do to the changes in the timeline. Because of that I added in a different version to how Shiro met Kuro. Plus if anyone is wondering, the reason Yukio has black hair in this story is because that was what his hair was supposed to be in the manga, not brown like the anime. And I do plan on adding in Yuri’s manga back story, with a few minor changes, but Shiro’s back story will be different do to it conflicting with what I’ve already written. The only reason I was able to add Yuri’s in was because I kept it vague for when her real cannon back story was given. I would have included Shiro’s but it unfortunately contradicted with what I’ve already stated in my story. But that doesn’t matter to much, I like how I’ve handled it.
> 
> But anyway, I hope you liked the chapter. Comments are always welcome to let me know what you thought and to let me know if there are anything I can improve on.


	3. chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Yuri continue to grow as a family as time passes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here’s chapter 2 everyone. Anyone who read the original would know that both this and the past chapter was originally one incredibly short chapter. But of course with rewriting, it got so long that I split the chapter into two parts. Even though this chapter still got pretty long itself, oh well more for you to read.

Time slowly crept by as the Okumura family fell into a comfortable rhythm. Shiro had never realized before how calm a simple domestic life could be until he experienced it for himself. It wasn’t until he found himself helping raise Yuri’s children, that Shiro finally understood the wonders of fatherhood. The sight of the little boys filled him with a happiness that he had never had before. Shiro didn’t remember his old man; all he knew was that he had been an exorcist that had been killed by a demon when he was a few years old. Even though Shiro didn’t have any idea of how a father should be like, he did the best he could. It had taken time, but with Yuri’s help, Shiro had learned out to properly mix the baby formula, and soon enough he was feeding them like he had been doing it for years. Who knew raising a child could feel so fulfilling. 

The two would take turns checking on the babies at night, though this was made a little difficult with them being in separate rooms. They would also take turns cooking, sometimes Shiro cooked breakfast and Yuki would make dinner. And other times it would be the other way around. But there were also times when they cooked together. These times had grown for frequent as time when on. This ended up with Yuri helping Shiro’s cooking skills improve. And by the way Kuro would dig in when Shiro sat a plate down for him, he thought so too. That to was precious in its own way. 

It hadn’t taken long for them to meet their neighbors. A nice elderly couple, who lived across the hall from them, had greeted them to the apartment the day after they moved in. Apparently they had seen everything being moved in the day before Shiro and Yuri had arrived in New York. It really hit Shiro then just how far ahead Mephisto had been in planning this entire thing out. It had been truly mind boggling, as well as frightening. It was around noon when the elderly couple had knocked on the door. Shiro had been the one to invite them in, while Yuri had been preoccupied feeding the babies. The elderly couple both appeared to be in their sixties and had introduced themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Garraway. The two had brought over a freshly baked pie, which Shiro had thanked them for. The pie had been sat down on the counter in the kitchen to cool. But after seeing Kuro eyeing it, Shiro quickly pulled out a round cake carrier and placed the pie inside to insure its safety. Mrs. Garraway was a kind woman; Shiro could see that even from their first meeting. She had a natural tan with thick shoulder length grayish black hair that fell into curls at the end. Her husband was equally kind with a, let’s say unique sense of humor. Not that it was a bad think anyway, but he didn’t seem to understand that not everyone understood his humor. His remarkably still thick hair was a strange mix dark grey, brown and silver. It was as though his hair refused to completely give up its youthful color.

When introducing himself, Shiro had almost blurted out his real name without thinking, thank God his fake name started with the same syllable. Shiro introduced himself as Shown Okumura, as well as his wife, Yumi Okumura. With the elderly couple sitting comfortably on the couch, Shiro went to let Yuri know that they had guests. When Shiro walked into the nursery, he noticed that Yuri was finished feeding the twins and was now simply holding them as she walked around the room. “Hey Yur-, Yumi, some of our neighbors are here to welcome use to the building.” Shiro really needed to work on using their new names. They need to be able to respond to them as naturally as they did the ones they were used to. Yuri looked over to Shiro was a worried look on her face, “Who are they?” Shiro saw the worry in her face and knew he needed to ease her concerns. He understood why she would be, but it’s only been a day there was no way anyone could find them across the globe that fast. “It’s just a nice elderly couple, they even brought use a pie.” Shiro added the next part with a grin on his face, “It sure smelt good.” When Yuri visibly relaxed, so did Shiro. “How about we greet them like a family, I’m sure they would gush over these cutie pies.”

It didn’t take long for Shiro to return with Yuri in tow as they each held one of the babies. Shiro held Rin while Yuri had Yukio. They twins were in clean onesies, having been changed not too long ago. Just as Shiro predicted, when the older woman saw the twins, her hazel eyes began to sparkle. “They’re so adorable, you are so very lucky.” The woman put a hand to her cheek as she seemed to drift off into thought. “I remember when our children were that little, and now their grown with little ones of their own.” As the woman spoke of her own children, as well as grandchildren, Shiro couldn’t help noticing how quickly Yuri seemed to get close to the other woman. Mr. Garraway gave Shiro a playful jab in the shoulder with his elbow, a grin on his ageing face. “You know, parenthood is one of the most difficult jobs out there, but it’s also the most rewarding.” Even though Shiro has only been doing this parent think for like one day, he could understand the depth of what he meant. Shiro knew that what he had gotten into wouldn’t be easy, but it would be worth it in the end. He was curtain of it. Being newborns, the twins didn’t do much other than stair curiously at everything around them.

Kuro at one point even joined them, having made the back of the couch next to Shiro’s head his temporary spot. The cat demon gave the elderly couple an intelligent look before meowing happily. When Kuro had made his way over, Shiro had been worried that the two could have a mashou and see Kuro’s true form. But there was nothing to worry about for as Shiro could tell, they only saw a normal cat. Kuro looked down at a wide eyed Rin, who instantly reached his small arms out to towards him, his tiny first making grabbing motions at mostly black cat. Kuro remained where he was as he watched the baby. The woman had also gushed over how adorable there cat was, and how protective he already seems to be of the babies. Having the couple over had been a nice experience, the conversation with them having remained light and engaging. Though Shiro had been asked where he was working, which Shiro had honestly explained that he hadn’t had a change yet to look for a job, but he was definitely planning to find work. The couple left not long later, a smile on everyone’s faces as they made their leave.

It was a week after settling in that Shiro finally decided to go job hunting. He knew that they would need a steady source of income, and the money Mephisto had placed in his and Yuri’s shared new bank account would only last for so long. Plus he knew that it would have to be him so Yuri could stay home with the babies like she wanted. Yuri didn’t like being away from her children for too long. To be fare, Shiro didn’t blame her there considering everything she went through after becoming pregnant with them. Just being able to hold them in her arms most feel like a miracle to her. They were her little miracles, as well as Shiro’s. 

It had been when he was walking one cold January morning that he noticed a small church just a block from his apartment. The church was looking for a new priest; the last one had stepped down do to failing health. Shiro was qualified for it, he was trained to be an exorcist after all, and with the right paperwork, it was a piece of cake getting the job. Shiro had gone straight home and hold Yuri, who had been so happy for him, that she went out of her way to throw a little party for him as congratulations. It had been fun, even though it was just them, Kuro and the babies. For the first time, Shiro knew what it felt like to have a normal family, and he loved it.

As time passed and the twins grew more and more, Shiro couldn’t help but see more of Yuri in them. Kuro, the loyal companion he was, had made it his job to watch over the babies at night. The cat demon would walk around the nursery, jumping up onto the cribs to look down at the sleeping babies. There had been times when Shiro would come in and find Kuro curled up next to either Rin or Yukio as they slept contently. The cat demon even kept a close eye on them when they were brought into the living room. When Shiro had nothing to do, he would hold the twins in his arms as he watched TV with them. There wasn’t anything particularly interesting on, but as long as it was mind numbingly entertaining, it was good enough. 

When the weather began to warm up, Yuri began taking strolls to the nearby park with the twins. Shiro would watch Yuri pull out the two seated stroller and buckle the twins in before making her way out. Sometimes Shiro joined her, but other times, he simply stayed home to enjoy the peace and quiet. It was during those peacefully hours when it was just him and the cat; that Kuro would suddenly hop on top of his head when he was distracted and paw playfully at his glasses. Sometimes Kuro was just as bad as the babies then it came to wanting attention. Plus the fact that Kuro was a hyper, cat demon that loved to play didn’t help either. Buy hey, when the twins got bigger, Kuro would become a great help in tiring them out, well, Shiro hoped so anyway.

Rin was about six months old when he started to pull himself up using the crib bars, his small fists holding onto the wooden bars tightly as he concentrated on steadying himself. His chubby baby legs wobbling slightly as he did so. But even when he fell back down, he never gave up, his face making the cutest face as he focused on standing up. Shiro just happened to walk into the nursery one day when he saw Rin pull himself up and with one hand, tried to reach out to Kuro who was standing fare out of his short range of reach. Looking over to the other crib, Shiro saw Yukio watch his twin with wide eyed interest as he tried to do the same thing. Yukio had managed to get part way, but fell back down onto his cushioned booty. But instead of crying, the dark haired baby got a serious look on his face as he tried again. Like his brother, Yukio refused to give up. Shiro couldn’t help but laugh at the cuteness of it all. Shiro knew from watching them pull themselves up that it wouldn’t be long before they began to start crawling.

And he was right, for it wasn’t too long after that, that the twins did in fact started crawling. It had started with Kuro running from Rin when the baby had reached out to grab at one of Kuro’s tails. Kuro had to jump away to stay out of his reach. The cat demon had learned rather quickly that if he wasn’t careful, one of the babies would reach out and pull his tails. Rin had done that once, which had ended with Kuro hissing at him in warning, but luckily no claws had been unsheathed. It had almost given Shiro a mini heart attack out of fear that Kuro would scratch him without thinking. Luckily that didn’t happen, though Rin did start crying afterword, almost as if Kuro’s hiss had been a scolding. But now as Kuro ran past Rin, the baby rolled onto his hands and knees and before anyone realized it had started slowly crawling after the cat. It would seem that Rin was determined to catch that cat, even if it meant learning to crawl.

It was when Rin had crawling down pat, which was when he started to crawl after Kuro everywhere. The only time Kuro could get away from the curious baby was when he jumped up somewhere high were neither Rin nor Yukio could reach. At one point it would seem that Yukio had started to follow Rin’s lead and began following Kuro around as well. It had been during these times that Shiro would set on the couch in the living room and watch Kuro play with the babies by running circles around them. It was when a hand would get to close that Shiro would playfully cry out, “Run Kuro, run, they’re going to get cha.” This would be followed by the cat giving him a dirty look. If Shiro could understand Kuro, the he would most likely be saying, ‘how dare you laugh at me instead of helping.’

Shiro would never forget the day he had been watching cartoons with the twins. It was some silly cartoon where the characters where cat people and was designed to help babies learn words. When the main character was pronouncing the word ‘cat’, Rin suddenly looked over to a sleeping Kuro, who was currently on the window seal, pointed and said, ‘Kitty.’ It had been his first word, and had taken Shiro by surprise. When Rin had said it again, Shiro couldn’t help the excitement he felt as he watched his son speak his first word. That’s right, son. Even if they weren’t related by blood, Shiro was their father in the only way that counted, love. He had called Yuri in, who had been cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast. When Yuri had walked in, Shiro had told her about Rin’s first word and tried to get him to say it again. When he did, Yuri had gushed so hard, clearly on cloud nine. It hadn’t been to long later that Yukio had said, ‘mama’ while crying when she had tried to leave to go to the store to pick up a few things. He clearly didn’t want her to leave him, pore baby. It would seem that Yuri was so tickled pink by his first word being ‘mama,’ that she ended up taking him along with her. Though Shiro knew part of it was so she could gush about it about to with the other moms at the grocery store they frequented. 

Soon enough, it was once again winter, the twins’ birthday approaching alongside Christmas. With the twins’ birthday being on a Wednesday, Shiro and Yuri both decided to throw a birthday party for them on the Saturday after. For Christmas, they bought the twins new clothes as well as toys. Yuri had gotten them both a teddy bear to sleep with, Rin’s had a blue ribbon tied around its neck, and Yukio’s had a yellow ribbon. It reminded Shiro of the blankets they had been wrapped in when he first saw them a whole year ago. Shiro would never forget the way Rin had gasped loudly at the sight of the stuffed animal before hugging it tightly to his chest, his blue eyes sparkling with pure joy. It wasn’t hard to make them happy.

They made sure the twins enjoyed their first Christmas. Yuri had insisted they decorated the apartment as well as getting as small tree. Shiro didn’t feel like dealing with a real tree so they bought a nice fake one that looked real. The bonus was that it came already decorated with fake snow clinging to the branches as well as blinking multi color lights that was make into it. All they had to do was add some garland and small bulbs and it was looking great. Looking around their decorated apartment, it dawned on Shiro that this was their first Christmas in New York, in this apartment. The Okumura’s first Christmas as a family. Before now, he had never really thought about the holidays, they had never really been that important to him before. But now, as he watched the twins trying to open up their gifts, Shiro felt that he finally understood what make the holiday to special.

On New Year’s Eve, as Shiro and Yuri watched the ball drop on TV, Shiro couldn’t help but think about how he and Yuri had grown close over the past year. With their mutual feeling for each other already out, they had both agreed to take their time with their relationship. Even though they were legally married, they weren’t exactly in a relationship. If anything, they were still in the process of accepting the fact that they actually had feeling for each other. It had been fun to go out on their first date, grow closer in a natural way as they learned more about one another. It had been six months earlier, that the kind elderly couple from across the hall had been more than happy to watch the twins for a few hours while Shiro and Yuri had gone on their first date. Shiro had taken Yuri out to see a movie then to a small simple restaurant to have dinner, they both enjoyed themselves and had an amazing evening. It had also been during that year that the two had become more intimate with each other. They had eventually becoming comfortable enough around each other that Shiro finally decided to move into the master bed room with Yuri. It had been a big step for them, but one that was in the right direction. If there was one thing Shiro knew for curtain, it was that there was nothing better than waking up next to the woman he loved. 

On the day of the twin’s birthday party, Yuri had invited a few of her friends over with their own kids to celebrate. Shiro had been the one to order the cake, as well as the two smash cakes from the local bakery. The cake had been thymed after a popular kid’s cartoon that Shiro couldn’t recall of the name of. All that mattered was that the kids liked it. When it had been time to blow out the candles, Yuri has stood beside Yukio while Shiro had been beside Rin. Rin had tried his best to blow out the candle, but his tiny lungs didn’t have the strength to blow the number one shaped candle out. Shiro had ended helping him, while Yuri blew out Yukio’s candle for him. When Shiro sat down Rin’s smash cake in front of him, the one year old had dug in, his little hands grabbing a fist full of cake and icing as he shoved it into his face. Yukio had been hesitant at first, only looking at his cake as if trying to figure out what it was. But when he saw Rin chowing down, he seemed to get the picture. He quickly grabbed a fist full of cake and started eating. Both of their faces were quickly covered in blue and orange frosting, which Yuri laughed at as well as took lots of pictures of. While the babies enjoyed their first cake, Yuri had cut everyone else a piece from the main cake and a scoop of ice cream. After eating, the twins opened up their birthday presents, which most have felt like a second Christmas to them. Afterwards they played with their new toys as well as watched their new movie on the VCR. It had ended up being a great party for everyone, and by the end both Rin and Yukio had worn themselves out and had passed out on the couch before the party officially ended. Shiro had to admit, it was a fun day.

The next four years past quickly in relative normality. It was when the twins were four that Yuri would bring a bomb shell down on Shiro, one that he hadn’t been expecting. Yuri had been having morning sickness, and was having a hard time keeping her food down in the mornings. At the time, Shiro thought nothing about it, assuming she just had the flu. Rin and Yukio were four years old now and were running all over the place, which was a headache in of itself. Shiro knew that if it wasn’t for their late birthdays, the twins would have started school that year. Unfortunately they had been born in late December and had to start a year later. Shiro was ok with that; it gave him another year of having his babies at home, even if they weren’t really babies anymore.

On the day Yuri finally went to the doctor for a checkup, Shiro stayed home with the kids. Even though Shiro would have loved to go with her, the twins would have just gotten bored with nothing to do. Plus it was just a checkup; Yuri had simply wanted to make sure she didn’t have anything serious. Shiro was curtain it wasn’t anything to worry about, but you could never be too careful. Who knew what kind of effects carrying the children of Satan could have caused. She had grown very weak during the pregnancy, which Yuri had told him about not long after their first date. Thinking about it, Shiro was worried it had affected her immune system. But Shiro had decided to stay positive; it was most likely the bug going around. 

When Yuri had returned home, Shiro was dozing off to sleep on the couch; his head leaned backwards onto the back of the sofa, his half closed as he dozed off. While Shiro was half asleep, Rin and Yukio sat on the floor in front of the couch, eyes glued to the TV. Kuro was also there, chilled out as he rested onto of Rin’s head, the small child not seeming to even notice as he watched his favorite show. Shiro jumped when Yuri shook his shoulder to get his attention. Shiro rubbed his eyes as he looked up into Yuri’s bright blue ones. They were just as beautiful as she was. Once she had his attention, Yuri spoke up, “I know why I’ve been feeling sick the past few weeks. And let’s just say that if you weren’t already relaxed on the couch, I would have told you to take a seat.” Shiro didn’t like the sound of that at all, now he was nervous. Was there something wrong with Yuri? But his worries were thrown out the window when Yuri said, “I’m pregnant.”

Shiro could only stair up at Yuri dumbly as his brain stopped working. Wait; did she just say what he thought she did? He had a hard time possessing it, and in the end Shiro gave the intelligent response of, ‘huh’. Let’s say Yuri wasn’t impressed. “Oh come on, is that how you respond to the good news, I swear you had that same shocked look when you found out I was pregnant with...” Yuri cut herself off as she looked down at the twins who were now looking up at her with wide eyes. “With the twins,” Yuri finished saying. Yuri had almost blurted out the ‘Satan’s child’ in front of the twins without thinking. That would have been a disaster, but considering how young they were, it wouldn’t have been too hard to blow it off as a joke. But either way, it had been a close call. Shiro had mouthed out ‘nice one,’ at her to show that he realized what she had almost said. Yuri pouted at him in return, clearly embarrassed at her own near blunder. But she quickly dropped the act as a more genuine look crossed her face, “Aren’t you exited, we’re going to have another baby.”

Was Shiro exited? This would be his child, his own blood related baby with Yuri. The thought made his chest feel warm. On the other hand, that would mean having another kid to chase around. But looking up at the woman he loved, Shiro knew there wasn’t anything he wanted more than her and their child. It was a good think they kept all of the twin’s baby furniture, they just had to get it out of storage and set up the middle room.

Though to be fair, Shiro was surprised Yuri could even have any more children considering the last babies she had were latterly on fire when they came out. A part of him had worried that their flames might have damaged her womb. But that didn’t seem to be the case sense she was currently pregnant again. Getting up from the couch, Shiro pulled Yuri into a gentle hug. “Oh course I’m excited, my brain just needed a few seconds to process it. I’m so happy for this baby.” The sudden gasp made Shiro and Yuri look down. Staring up at them with stars in their eyes were Rin and Yukio, their small faces filled with excitement. “We’re going to be big brothers?” Rin said as he jumped up in down. Yukio was also bouncing with excitement as he asked. “I want a little sister.” Rin looked over at Yukio and nodded his head vigorously. “Yea, I’d love a baby sister.” Yuri laughed at their enthusiasm. At least they were happy about it. Yuri knelt down to the twins’ level and hugs both of them. “When I find out what the baby is in a few months, I’ll let you know.” The two four year old both nodded as they hugged their mom back.

Yuri stood up and looked over at Shiro, “If it’s a girl, I’d like to name her Yoko. That was my mother’s name.” Shiro looked at Yuri in surprise. Through all of the years they had known each other, she had never mentioned her family before, though neither had he to be honest. “You never told me about your mother, we’re you close?” Shiro had asked before he had even realized it. Yuri shook her head, “No, I never knew her. All I know was that she was an exorcist who had gotten sick and died not long after having me. I know that because of the note she had sown onto the blanket I had been found in.” Shiro felt his heart ache at that, he knew what it was like to lose a parent. His own mother had passed away when he was in middle school. Then the words, ‘I was fond in registered. “Wait, what did you mean by ‘found’, what about your dad.” Shiro regretted asking as soon as he said it. Yuri looked down, her eyes sad, “I have no idea who my dad was. I was found by an elderly couple who had been retired exorcists. They raised me until they passed away in a fire when I was six. I was then taken in by the True cross order and trained to become an exorcist while growing up.” Shiro wasn’t sure why Yuri had said all of that, but knowing more about her made him feel even closer. But still, Shiro could tell that there was a part she was leaving out, but she’ll tell him one day when she was ready. But he could at least return the favor and tell her about his own past, it was only fair.

After putting the twins down for a nap, Shiro sat back down on the couch, and gently pulled Yuri down next to him. If he was to be honest, a part of him had wanted to tell her for a while now. Clearing his throat, Shiro began to speak. “Well sense you told me about your childhood, it’s only fair I tell you mine.” Yuri tried to wave it off, “You don’t have to do that you know. You can tell me whenever you’re ready.” But Shiro was ready, and this was the right moment. Laying a gentle hand on her shoulder, Shiro responded with, “I know, and I am ready.” Yuri nodded her head, signaling that she understood. Taking a deep breath, Shiro began.

“You see, my father was in exorcist. He was killed by a demon while on a mission when I was little. I was about maybe two of tree. I’m not too sure, I don’t really remember too much. All I know was that growing up it had only been me and my mom.” Shiro only ever really had a mom; he didn’t remember anything about his dad, other than broken memories of a man with red eyes like his own. If it wasn’t for pictures he wouldn’t even know what he looked like. Shiro hesitated, the next part still hurt to think about even after all of these years. But Yuri waited patiently for him, and after a few deep breaths he continued. “After my father died, my mom suddenly developed a severe phobia of demons. Her having a moshou didn’t exactly help either. By the time I was old enough to know what was going on, she had turned into a shut in and refused to leave the apartment. She was terrified on the demons that she believed would get her if she went outside.” It also didn’t help that at some point she had stopped seeing Shiro’s red eyes as a reminder of her late husband. She began seeing them as something demonic, something to be scared of. This had caused their relationship to fall apart until they hardly ever spoke to each other. 

Shiro looked towards the window, his right hand instinctively reached for his left pocket. But of course it was empty. It would seem even after four years of having quit smoking, he still found himself reaching for a pack of cigarettes that wasn’t there. “But because of that, we didn’t have a steady income and was forced to rely on what relatives would give as support. For a while, a few of the relatives talked about having mom put in a home, but in the end no one ever really did. Perhaps if they did, things might have ended differently. By the time I started middle school, her health had greatly disintegrated and during the brake between my 1st and 2nd year of middle school, she passed away.” Shiro would never forget the day he had to call for an ambulance after finding his mother unconscious in the middle of the kitchen. No one knew what was wrong with her and she ended up passing away just a few days after. It still hurt thinking about. “Afterward, I ended up bouncing from relative to relative. No one really wanted me so I was constantly moving. Thinking back on it, that would have been hard on any teenager.” 

At some point Yuri had taken hold of Shiro’s hand and held it as if she was giving him support. Shiro squeezed her hand in thanks. “It wasn’t until I stated high school that my living situation stabilized. I had been accepted into True Cross Academy, at the time I didn’t understand how. It wasn’t like my grades were anything special. But it turned out that my old man had been friends with Mephisto and he had gotten me in due to a promise he had made with my dad. Anyway, after being enrolled into True Cross I moved into the dorms and began attending the cram school.” The main reason for that was due to the fact that Shiro blamed demons for his childhood falling apart. He had blamed them for everything wrong in his life and wanted nothing more than to exterminate them. But that of course changed when he met Yuri. In the end she made him a better person. “Well, I graduated, became an exorcist, and you know the rest.” Yuri pulled Shiro into her arms and held him, and for the first time Shiro finally let himself grieve.

Months past as Yuri’s stomach started to show signs of her pregnancy. Shiro’s friends down at the church he preached at had congratulated him when they had found out. Even the elderly couple across the hall had given them a present as congratulations. It was when Yuri was about four months along that her friends threw her a surprise baby shower. Yuri had cried tears of joy when she saw the party. Shiro couldn’t blame her. She hadn’t exactly gotten one the first time around, being pregnant with the spawn of the devil isn’t exactly something people celebrate after all. The joyous look on his wife’s face as all of her friends handed her gift after gift of all sorts of adorable baby supplies. At that point, Shiro and Yuri already knew they were having a girl, so they had been given dozens of adorable pink and purple outfits. Shiro could already picture their little girl wearing them. 

It was about a few weeks after Yuri’s due date that Yuri gave birth to their beautiful baby girl. Shiro had been worried about Yuri having another surprise twins, but this time she only had one baby. Though he should have known better, the only reason she hadn’t known the first time was because of a lack of hospital assess while pregnant with Rin and Yukio. Standing in the hospital room next to his wife, Shiro held his newborn baby with a smile plastered on his face. The twins sat in a single wide chair by the bed, Rin bouncing with excitement. It would seem that they had gotten that baby sister they wonted after all. The baby had Yuri’s pale skin as well as a head full of thick black hair. The difference between her and her brothers’ was that Yoko’s eyes were red like Shiro’s. “

“Daddy, I want to hold her! Can I, can I?” Rin had asked, his five year old voice full of happiness. How could Shiro possibly say no to that? Walking over to where Rin was, Shiro gently positioned the baby into his arms. “You have to hold like this, her head needs to be supported.” Rin did as he dad said, holding his baby sister in his arms carefully. Shiro saw the pride on the little boy’s face as he held his baby sister. He would make a great big brother. Yukio, who had been quiet up till this point, then asked to hold her as well. After giving Yoko a kiss on the forehead, Rin gave her back to Shiro who then let Yukio hold her. Yuri smiled as she watched her boys gush over their new sister. It was everything she had ever wanted.

Not long later the doctor, a tall thin man with slicked back black hair, returned, clip board in hand, “Everything seems good Ms. Okumura. You and your baby can leave whenever you’re ready.” That was good to hear. All they had to do was sign the paperwork and they could head home. With Yoko’s newly printed birth certificate in hand, Shiro carried the baby in her pink baby car seat. Yuri walked behind him with one twin on each side of her, holding their hands.

With traffic, it took about an hour get back to their apartment complex. The middle room, which had once been the quest room, was now decorated up in pink and purple. Shiro and Yuri had gone out of their way to make it look like a princess room. The walls were painted pink with purple hearts that framed the top and bottom of the walls. All of the furniture inside had once been in Rin and Yukio’s room when they had been babies. The only difference being that this time, they only needed one crib instead of two. Yoko was fast asleep as Yuri laid her down into her bed, snuggled into pink footy pajamas. She looked so much like her brothers when they were he age; it was almost hard for Shiro to believe that this beautiful little girl was actually his. Even though it would be hard to keep an eye on a couple of five year old as well as a new born, Shiro knew he could handle it. And as Kuro hopped on top of the crib and looked down at Yoko, Shiro could see it on the demon cat’s face that he knew that he now had a new precious bundle to protect as well.

Japan branch, True Cross Academy’s Headmaster’s office

Mephisto sat at his desk, a clearly annoyed look adorned his face as he examined a few of his anime girl figures that decorated the top of his work area. He has been waiting on a certain someone for a few hours now. Why was it so hard for him to show up when told to? It was like his little brother never listened him, wait, doesn’t actually. Annoying little brothers aside, Mephisto looked down at the special snow glob that sat on the desk in front of him. The bottom was a dark green with a design of vines and flowers that decorated the bottom half. The strange part was the top half of the glop. Where a decoration would normally sit inside, there was nothing there. Not a single fleck of fake snow or anything could be seen inside, it was completely empty. Mephisto had everything planned out and ready, all he needed was for that brother of his to get his but over here already. 

There was a sudden noise from behind him as Mephisto was about to take matters into his own hands. The window opened inward as Amaimon made his way in from the outside. In one of his sharp nailed hands was a small bag of candy. Of course, Amaimon couldn’t be bothered to bay him a lick of attention, but he could stop for who knows how long getting candy! Mephisto might enjoy himself some sugary sweets, but come on priority! Taping his purple gloved fingers onto his desk’s surface, the older demon frowned at his younger brother, who for better words, appeared to be completely oblivious to Mephisto’s annoyance. Pulling out a piece of chocolate from the bag, the green haired demon popped it into his mouth, his yellow eyes looking around looking bored. The sight got under Mephisto’s skin; he hated it when Amaimon acted that way. “You wanted something big brother?” The younger demon’s complete lack of interest wasn’t anything new. The only time Amaimon ever showed any kind of interest was when it involved getting to fight or kill something, or on the rare accessions when Mephisto would give him some candy or a video game to play.

But right now that lack of interest irked him. Mephisto had something important for Amaimon to do for him, and here he was giving his older brother his best impression of being brain dead. Sometimes Mephisto wandered if he had been dropped on his head a few too many times when he was a baby, if so, he knew who to blame. Frowning Mephisto asked, “Do you know what time it is?” Amaimon unwrapped another piece of chocolate, “Nope.” Mephisto’s left eye twitched. “You you remember what time I asked you to be here?” This question was also followed by a board reply of, “I forgot.” Taking a deep breath in order to _not_ kill his younger brother, Mephisto decided it was best to drop this conversation and get down to what he actually called the king of earth in for. 

Straightening himself, Mephisto got down to business. With a snap of his fingers, the window Amaimon had left open closed as well as locked alongside all of the others as well as the double doors that connected his office to the rest of the school. Mephisto had also puffed a sign onto the outside of his office that simply read, ‘meeting in progress, do not disturb under any circumstances. Thank you.’ There now he didn’t have to worry about being interrupted. Picking up the empty snow globe, Mephisto turned it over as he gazed at it from all angles. “Now then, there’s something important I need you to do for me Amaimon. Looking up, the king of time and space watched his younger brother become interested at last. A flash of curiosity flashed in his yellow eyes as he clearly wandered what was about to be asked of him. Mephisto already knew that he wasn’t going to like it one bit, and the thought was almost enough to put a dark grin on his face. But Mephisto kept his face neutral, there was no point freaking his younger brother out before he even had a change to put his plan into motion.

It has been five years sense Shiro Fujimoto had faked his death alongside Yuri Egin and her children. And in that time span, Mephisto hadn’t gone to see them once. It was better that way; keeping distance was the best way to stay inconspicuous. But at the same time, he was curious as to what they were getting up to. Mephisto has been thinking for a while now that he needed to have someone close by them to let him know what was happening. He had been the one to send them to the States after all. It was the least he could do to keep an eye on them, right? Mephisto already knew how that sounded from his thoughts, but didn’t care.

Standing up from his desk, Mephisto walked over to a still curious Amaimon who watched him as though he was going to perform a magic trick or something. “Now listen closely, I need you to go under cover for me. You will have to stay inconspicuous for an unknown amount of time and not let anyone know who you really are. You think you can do that?” The demon king of earth tilted his head as he took all of that in, and then nodded, completely unaware of what he was actually agreeing to. There was an important part Mephisto had left out. He knew that it was best not to say it out right or Amaimon might try to flee. The last thing the elder demon felt like doing that day was wrestling the younger demon to the ground to keep him from tried to run from him.

“Sure, I can do that. It sounds boring though; I wish it involved something more interesting.” Well if he wanted something exiting, he was about to get it. Snapping his fingers, the snow glob appeared in his outstretched hand. Now was the moment while Amaimon was confused on what he was doing. Now with one hand holding the needed object, Mephisto snapped his fingers once more with his other hand and said his special phrase, “Eins…Zwei…Drei!!” A twisted grin formed on Mephisto’s face as dim light started to appear from Amaimon’s chest. A frightened look crossed the younger’s face as he took as step backwards, his hands flying to his chest as the light grew stronger. An object began to form in the air just inches from Amaimon’s glowing chest. The shape soon took the form of a beautiful flower with long green petals that folded inward towards its red center. Amaimon’s demon heart was now flouting in the air, a green light being emitted from it.

Realization downed on the younger demon’s face as he seemed to catch on to what his elder brother had in mind. But it was too late for him to do anything about it now as he watched helplessly as the core and source of his demonic powers flout away from his body before being placed inside on the empty snow glob that Mephisto still held. But now, the snow glob glowed with a light green aura, the flower shaped demon heart now sealed inside. Poofing the glob away, Mephisto watched several emotions cross his brother’s face. From shock, to horror, to hurt, then betrayal, as though he couldn’t believe Mephisto had just done that to him. Mephisto could understand why he would feel betrayed, taking another demon’s core was a horrible thing to do, but this had to be done.

Then suddenly, rage burst into Amaimon’s face as he took a step forward. But before he could do anything he would regret, his legs seemed to give out on him as he hit the floor. The first change that happened was his hair. Amaimon’s green hair began to darken until it became jet black. The spike on top of his head fell apart as the strains of hair fell down flat onto his head. The color of his yellow eyes shifted into a dark green color, yellow green flecks within. But the change to Amaimon’s appearance didn’t become overly obvious until his body started to shrink. Amaimon watched in horror as his teen body shrank until he was the size of a five year old. Now standing in the middle of a pool of too big clothing, Amaimon glared daggers at Mephisto; his eyes screaming pure murder. The only clothing that hadn’t fallen off of him was his sort sleeved button up shirt that now swallowed him and went to his knees, as well the vest and tie that was worn over it.

Mephisto snapped his fingers once again and more appropriately sized clothing replaced the teen sized ones. Amaimon now wore a green t-shirt with an anime character on the front as well as a pair of black long shorts and a simple pair of sneakers. Leaning against his desk, Mephisto put a gloved hand to his face as he grinned one of his famous smirks. “Now before you ask, I did this for a reason. I needed you this way in order for you to go undercover. I need you to be a child to be inconspicuous as you keep an eye on our youngest brothers. You did say you’d do it for me, remember?” This was the best way to handle the situation. He wanted someone to keep an eye on the Okumura family for him, and a child to play with the twins was the best plan. Who would expect a child to be keeping tabs on you? Only someone really paranoid! Well, Shiro was did have a tendency to be paranoid, but hey he was sure this would work.

Amaimon continued to glare at Mephisto, his now tiny body shacking with anger. With the way he was huffing, he looked like he was about to throw a tantrum, how adorable. “You didn’t say anything about that when you first asked. You tricked me.” Mephisto waved the words off, raising an eye brown at the child. “Did I really? It’s not my fault you didn’t ask.” Amaimon opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped before anything could come out. It was as if he had connected the dots to something. “You said ‘youngest brothers’ right? Wouldn’t that mean the child that exorcist lady was carrying lived?” Oh yea, Mephisto never told Amaimon about the twins survival, or that they were twins, oh well. That’s right, though she ended up having twins. I need you to keep an eye on them for me; I would like to know what is happening over there across the world. And sense I can’t do it myself, for obvious reasons, I want you to do it.”

Still scowling, Amaimon looked away, “Fine, I’ll do it, just worn me next time.” Mephisto didn’t respond to that as an exhilarated look crossed his face. “Exultant, now for the next part of my plan,” with a snap of his fingers, the lock on the double doors clicked open. Just a few seconds later someone knocked on the oak wood doors, right on time. At least someone knew how to be punctual. Mephisto called out for the one on the other side to enter. The door opened up revealing a young woman in an exorcist coat. The woman appeared to be either in her late twenties or early thirties, it was hard to tell. She had long brown hair tied back into a single ponytail that was draped across her left shoulder. She was of average build and appearance that didn’t really stand out. Her eyes were a dark green with a brown ring along her pupil. This woman is Yukari Sojiro an upper middle classed exorcist who works directly under Mephisto, as well as one of the few humans who he trusted more than anyone else.

Waiving over the young woman, Yukari entered the office and closed the door behind her, which relocked. Now that the three of them were here, it was time to announce the last part of his plan before sending them off. “Now Amaimon, this right here is Yukari Sojiro, she’s a special human who I have chosen to serve as your pretend mom.” Mephisto had already filled Yukari in on the plan, so she wasn’t surprised when she heard it. But Amaimon was, his eyes widening like saucers as he look that in. “Why would I deed that?! I don’t need some human woman playing mom for me!” Oh look, Amaimon’s mad again. Mephisto gave the former demon a serious look, “Of course you do, what five year old lives without parents. This plan won’t work unless it’s convincing, remember?” Amaimon said nothing more, simply folding his arms across his chest and pouted.

Mephisto walked over to Yukari and handed her one of his magical keys that would take her to the apartment he had gotten ready for them ahead of time, just like he had done with Shiro and Yuri. “From now, until further notice, your name will be Kristine Faust.” A part of Mephisto knew that giving them the last name ‘Faust’ might be to one the nose, and would make Shiro suspicious. But you know what, that’s what makes things more interesting. Looking down at a tiny Amaimon, Mephisto handed him the bag of candy he had dropped earlier when he had changed. “And your name will be Ambrosius Faust.” Amaimon didn’t seem to like the name for he replied with, “That’s too long, I’d like ‘Ambrose’ better.” Not wanting to argue with a five year old Mephisto simply agreed. “Fine, ‘Ambrose’ can be your nickname; I already have the other on your fake documents, so deal with it.”

Amaimon grumbled but dropped the topic. But then asked an actually intelligent question, “So let me big brother, who will be the father in this fake family you’ve created. I’m sure you have to of thought of that.” Of course he has, he just forgot to say it. “You’ve just asked the best question, for you see that honor belongs to…”Mephisto let the words linger for dramatic affect before pointing both thumbs towards himself in a dramatic fashion, “…Me of course. I will be the distant, estranged father that gives child support and nothing else. Aren’t I terrible?” To be fair, that could also describe his own relationship with their own father; distant and estranged, for both clear and obvious reasons. Mephisto couldn’t help but notice the way Yukari flushed and looked away when he said that he would be the father of her fake child, oh how he loved teasing her. Amaimon on the other hand wasn’t impressed with his dramatics, “I hate you,” had been his only reply. Mephisto found it adorable, “Aww, look at that, we already have a strained relationship, just like I said we would.” Amaimon continued to glare at the older demon, not appreciating being patronized. 

Finally Mephisto gestured to the door on the side of his office that led to a sitting area. “Now if you’re ready Ms. Faust, all you have to do is use that key I gave to you and you’ll be in your new apartment in New York, but don’t forget about the time difference so it will be really early in the morning when the two of you arrive.” Yukari, or Kristine now, nodded her head then used the key to open the doorway to their destination. Once Yukari opened the door, she held it open for newly named Ambrose to go in first. But before he could walk in, Mephisto stopped him with one last think, “Oh Amaimon, before you go, I want you to know that you will get your demon heart back eventfully. But for now, good luck growing up human.” Mephisto then waved him goodbye in the most patronizing way he knew how. Not wanting to deal with his elder brother any longer, Amaimon stomped through the open door into a completely different country.

Just before Yukari followed, Mephisto told her one last thing as well, “Please watch over him for me. Doing this is a huge gamble for father will notice his absence eventfully and well start asking questions. Please make sure Amaimon stays safe while he’s human, that’s all I ask.” A gentle smile crossed the exorcist’s face as she heard him out. “Of course I will Sr. Pheles, you can count on me.” Without another word, the woman turned and made her way through the threshold, closing the door behind her. The sound of a click was all Mephisto needed to hear to know that the gate way had been closed. Once that was done, he made his way back to his desk and looked down at the stack of paper work he still had to do. Now it was time for him to do actual work, how boring. Picking up a random sheet of paper, Mephisto mindlessly read the words without processing it. Looking out the window at a beautiful spring afternoon, Mephisto knew that soon enough things were going to get interesting for everyone, very interesting indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, There’s chapter 2. In this version I decided to change Yuka’s name to Yoko because I thought it would be cute for Yuri to name her daughter after the mom she never knew. Plus I’ve added her manga canon back story, which I like better then the anime, it made her feel like a more rounded character. Plus you get my own made up back story for Shiro, which isn’t canon in anyway. His actually back story, like I mentioned before just wouldn’t fit in with what I already written. The other change I made was Amaimon’s human name. Anyone who read the manga would know why I went with Ambrosius instead of Andy. I know the last few chapters might seem a bit slow, but the next chapter will jump to a 15 year old Rin and Yukio, so I hope you’re exited.  
Anyway I hope you’re enjoying the story so far, comments are always welcome to let me know how I’m doing, and if there is anything I can improve on. Thank you to everyone giving my story a chance, I appreciate it.


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin, Yukio and Yoko enjoy a day at the amusement park, and Yukio starting noticing strange creatures he has never seen before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry about the long wait on this chapter, i got a PS4 for my birthday a few months back and got a bit distracted. Don't worry i haven't abandoned the story, I have every intention of continuing.   
I would like to explain something before anyone gets confused, when ever the chapter is in Yukio, Rin, or Yoko's point of view, Shiro and Yuri will be referred to as 'Shawn' and 'Yumi". This being do to them only knowing their parents by this name. The same with Amaimon, sense he is going by Ambrose Faust.

Yoko

The sound of small footsteps could be heard as a Yoko made her way through their apartment. Stopping outside of her brother’s shared bedroom, the ten year old knocked loudly on the door to get her brother’s attention. Yoko knew that a soft knock wouldn’t cut it with Rin; she had already figured out that he was a hard sleeper. When there was no response, Yoko thumbed her fist against the door again, “Rin! Mom said get up, breakfast is ready!” That time Yoko heard the sound of Kuro’s caller shake from inside the room, as well as a soft thud. Well that did it; at least Yoko didn’t have to use the air horn this time. She would never forget the time she had opened up the door, slipped her hand into the room and used the ridiculously loud object to wake her brother up. Rin had fallen off the bunk bed with a yelp of surprise before Yoko booked it back to the living room.

Yoko could hear Rin getting out of bed, “I’ll be there in a minute.” Satisfied with a job well done, Yoko headed back to the kitchen. Yukio, who was Yoko’s other brother as well as Rin’s twin, was sitting at the kitchen table, a book opened up in front of him as he read. The table he was sitting at was already set, the two of them had set it together before she had gone to wake up Rin. Mom was standing at the stove, using a pair tongs to set the last pieces of cooked bacon onto the waiting platter. Dad stood by the small coffee maker as he pored himself a cup. There dad always made coffee in the morning. Walking over to where Yukio was sitting at the kitchen table, Yoko noticed a cup of coffee sitting on the place mat beside him. He must have got some while she was gone. Looking over to where her dad still stood by the coffee maker, she saw that it was about empty. Just like dad, Yukio also needed his morning coffee. Yoko didn’t care too much for coffee; she preferred her morning chocolate milk. Speaking of which, she should go ahead and fix herself some. Yoko picked up a glass that was sitting by the dish drain; she wasn’t exactly tall enough to reach the cabinet where the glasses were stored. After poring herself some good old chocolate milk, she sat down across from Yukio. By now, Yukio had closed his book and put it aside for after they ate. 

The book in question was one of Yukio’s complicated medical books that he had gotten from the local library. Yoko always wondered how Yukio understood all of the complicated words that was in the thick text book, but was impressed all the same. Yukio’s dream was to become a doctor one day, a dream that Yoko as always admired. He was very smart, made good grades and always made time to help Yoko with her own studies when asked. A loud yawn could be heard as Rin made his way into the kitchen, still in his night wear. “Good morning,” their mom called out to Rin as he made his way over to the cabinet to grab himself a glass. Like Yoko, Rin also loved himself some chocolate milk in the morning, it was like there morning tradition. Rin grabbed the half empty chocolate milk jug from the fridge and filled his glass up. He then sat down at the table next to Yukio like he always did.

Looking over at his twin, Rin’s tired expression from a moment ago had been replaced with overflowing excitement. He was practically sparkling as he asked, “Are you ready to go to Mephy Land?” Yukio laughed at his brother’s enthusiasm, a warm smile on his face. “Of course, I’ve been looking forward to this all week just like you.” Ambrose’s mom had promised to take Rin, Yukio, and Yoko to Mephy Land today alongside Ambrose. Ambrose is Rin’s best friend who lives in the next apartment over. Ambrose and his mom had moved not long after Yoko was born, so in a way Ambrose was like a third big brother. While Yukio was also friends with Ambrose, he was more Rin’s friend.

With school starting back next week, Mephy Land, the local amusement park with ties to New York’s True Cross branch, was having a half price back to school special for all school aged kids. And considering the fact that Mephy Land was usually expensive, this was a deal no one could pass on. “I still think it was really sweet for Kristy to offer to take the kids with her.” Mom said as she started to fix everyone’s plates. Today’s breakfast is scrambled eyes, bacon, hash browns, and toast. Shawn made his way over to Yumi, taking the plate she had just fixed and taking it with him over to his usual place at the table. Ambrose’s mom is actually named Kristine, but everyone calls her Kristy. “It really was nice of her,” their dad agreed as he sipped on his coffee. “After we eat I’ll give the three of you some spending money.” Rin loudly exclaimed his thanks as Yumi sat down a plate of food in front of him. “Eat up, you’ll need the energy.” Their mom smiled, her blue eyes sparkling as she grabbed Yukio and Yoko’s plates and setting them down at the table as well. “Thanks mom,” Yoko said as she picked up her fork. Once everyone was settled in at the table, mom said a quick blessing and everyone dug in.

After breakfast, Yoko helped her mom clean up the kitchen. As Yoko dried the dishes her mom handed her, she found herself thinking about the trip to Mephy Land. Their parents always made a habit to take them there once a year during summer break. It was a summer tradition. The student half price sale that the park offered every year just before school started, was a deal that many families took advantage of. Because of this, the park was always packed during the last week of summer break. Usually Ambrose would go with them, but this year Ms. Kristy offered to take them. Just thinking about it filled Yoko with excitement. She was as excited as any ten year-old could be. Shawn had already left the kitchen to get t he money he had promised. Rin had also left the kitchen to go get dressed, and Yukio had picked up the book he had been reading before and opened it back up to read some more. Unlike his twin, Yukio had already changed out of his sleep clothes. As Yoko sat the last plate in the dish drain, her mom dried her hands on a hand towel then said, “You should go get dressed to sweetie, Kristie should be over soon.”

Yoko was still wearing her pink kitty pajamas, which consisted of a white loose shirt with a picture of a cartoon cat on the front, as well as a pair of pink pajama bottoms with white paw prints all over them. They were her favorite, as she wore them often. “Ok mom, I’ll go do that now.” Yoko folded and sat down the towel she had been using. Making her way to her room, Yoko opened up her closet and pulled out a white short sleeved t shirt and a pair of pink shorts; as well as a pair of knee high white socks. After a quick change, Yoko grabbed her brush and stood before her mirror as she brushed her long black hair. Yoko is a small girl with a round face, pale skin, and red eyes just like her father. A single mole rested just above the right corner of her mouth. Yoko picked up a pink scrunchie and tied her hair back into a ponytail, then picked up her pink glasses from her dresser top. Yoko is the only one out of the three kids that wears glasses like their dad. She always felt that it was something they shared.

Slipping on her sneakers, Yoko made her way back to the living room. Dad was standing in the living room, wallet out as he handed cash over to both Rin and Yukio. “Here you go, don’t lose it.” Rin stuffed the bills into his pocket while Yukio carefully folded the pills before putting them in his own. Yoko made her way over to her dad, who had just noticed her. Shawn pulled out a few pills and handed them out to her, “Here, you have fun now.” There dad was always doing nice things for them, he always made sure they had everything they needed. Just as Yoko was about to thank him, a knock could be heard from the front door. Shawn made his way over to the door and opened it up, revealing Ambrose and his mom standing on the other side of the door.

Ambrose is a tall lanky boy, just an inch or two taller than Yukio, with shaggy black hair and blue eyes similar to Rin’s. He currently wore a black short sleeved button up shirt, a pair of baggy brown shorts that ended just past his knees, and green leg and arm warmers. The end of a lollipop stuck out of his mouth as he looked past Shawn to where Rin, Yukio, and Yoko were standing. A spark of interest crossed Ambrose’s normally impassive face as he waved in their direction. Kristine, Ambrose’s mom, greeted Shawn at the door with a friendly hug. Yoko’s dad returned the gesture before stepping aside and allowing the two guests entrance to the apartment. Just then, Yumi made her way out of the kitchen, a big smile on her round face as she pulled the other woman into a bear hug. “It’s good to see you girl, how’ve you been?” Kristine is around the same age as Shawn and Yumi, perhaps a few years younger. Kristine and Yumi are good friends, just like their kids; the two always hanging out whenever they have a chance. Kristine had returned Yumi bear hug with equal force. The way they acted, you’d think they hadn’t seen each other in months instead of just yesterday. As far as Yoko knows, neither of her parents have any siblings, so Kristy has always been like an aunt to her. Which fit considering that both Yumi and Kristy were close enough to be sisters.

“I’ve been good. Same as usual, working and putting up with that little turd over there.” Kristine said with a cheeky grin on her face as looked at her son, who was now standing next to Rin. Ambrose stuck his tongue out at his mom, his arms folded across his chest. Yumi laughed at her friend’s antics, “That’s great to hear.” Yumi broke the hug, stepping to give her friend some space. “I’ve been doing well to; I still can’t believe that school is starting back already. It feels like yesterday that school was just getting out.” Kristine brushed a lock of short brown hair behind her ear, revealing a small silver stud earring in the process. “I know what you mean, it went by so fast, and I know the kids would agree.” Rin nodded his head vigorously, “I know right, summer break is too short.” “Yea, school sucks, I want more vacation.” Ambrose added, as he eyes seemed to be focused on the far wall. Yukio gave his brother and friend a reproaching look, “You know school is important right?” Ambrose gave Yukio his famous, ‘don’t care face,’ while Rin rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, “I know that, but that don’t mean I can’t complain about it.” Yukio rolled his eyes at his twin’s words, but smiled all the same, “Nothing wrong with that.” Kristine looked down at her pink watch, the same color as Yoko’s glasses. “We should get going; I’ll bring the kids back before it gets too late.”

Yoko practically jumped with anticipation, she always loved going to Mephy Land. There was just so much to do, it was impossible to do it all in one visit. And it seems that Rin felt the same way, as waves of pure excitement was coming off of him. Even Yukio looked pretty excited to head out. The jingle of a bell caught Yoko’s attention as she felt a small furry body press up against her leg. Looking down, she noticed the family cat, Kuro. The mostly black cat was looking up at her with his big eyes, as if asking what all the excitement was about and where they were going.

Yoko loved Kuro to the moon and back, the small cat having been with them for as long as she could remember. The cat’s age has always been a mystery, even Rin and Yukio had no idea when Kuro joined there family. Kuro has to be around fifteen years old if not older, and yet the cat in question still looked and moved like he was only a few years old. Kuro let out a soft meow before walking over to Rin and jumping onto his shoulder. The small cat rubbed his head against Rin’s in a show of affection. Rin laughed at the cat’s behavior before putting him back down on the ground, “Sorry buddy, you can’t do with us; the park doesn’t allow pets.” Kuro gave Rin a pouting look before running over to Shawn, who was leaning against the wall. Just before they left, Yumi gave each of her children a hug, reminding each one of them to be on their best behavior. As everyone started leaving the apartment, Yoko was the last to walk out as she waved goodbye to her mom and dad, who now had the afternoon to themselves.

Rin

The amusement park was packed when they arrived. Teens and children could be seen everywhere as they enjoyed the student half price deal. No matter how many times Rin visited Mephy Land; he never got tired of it. From what Rin has read about the park online, the Mephy Land here in New York is based on the original amusement park in Japan, which is even bigger than this one. The smell of cotton candy and deep fried food from concession stands fill the air as Rin looked around at all of the games and rides, trying to decide what he wanted to do first. Mephy Land’s largest roller-coaster sat at the park’s center, towering over everything else. It was the kind of roller-coaster that a lot of people found scary, with lots of turns and loops, as well as steep drops. It was Rin’s favorite, he’s been ridding it every year sense he was finally tall enough to ride. There was one thing about the favored ride that has always confused Rin, the name of the ride. Along the side of the roller-coaster, in bold pink letters, the ride’s name was spelled out, ‘_GO TO HELL.’ _How that got approved in a park with a lot of kids was a mystery that Rin would never know. Seriously, who approved that; that is not family friendly in any shape or form, even Rin knew that. Whoever owns this park most have paid off a lot of people to let that slide. Or they just have too much money and influence for something like that to bother them. Either way, that one roller-coaster really stood out, despite being placed on the park’s center, and was quite rememberable. Regardless of its controversial name, the roller-coaster ‘_Go To Hell_’ truly is Mephy Land’s best and most popular ride. 

A large double deck carousel was placed in the west side of the park, not far from a few concession stands selling drinks and soft pretzels. The outside had a theme of white and pink, gold trimming around where the lights were and around pattern edges. The very top of the carousel is designed like a crown and the entire ride in general, has an elegant shape to it. The supporting beams that extend from floor to ceiling have the appearance of golden vines twisted together that flowed seamlessly into both the ceiling and floor. Instead of regular horses, winged unicorns stood inches above the ground, held up by the poles that lifted them up and down. All together, the carousel is a breathtaking side, as well as the most amazing ones that Rin had ever seen. Yoko had wanted to ride the carousel first, so here they were waiting in line. Despite the ride’s excellent condition, it had been here for as long as Rin has been coming to Mephy Land. Rin still remembers when both him and Yukio were small and would ride the unicorns with their parents. He has always loved the simple ride that went around in circles. It may not have the adrenaline excitement as the roller-coasters, but there was just coming about the simplicity of the carousel that has always stayed with him. It was like a part of his childhood.

Yukio and Yoko stood in front of him, chatting together as they waited to get on. Their sister was bouncing with an excitement that reminded Rin of himself. Her black ponytail swayed back and forth as she swayed in place. She has always been an easy person to read, always having her heart on her sleeve, which was another thing Yoko has in common with her big brother Rin. Yukio on the other hand was a bit more difficult. He tended to be harder to get a feel for, preferring to keep his emotions inside unlike his siblings. But at the moment, Yukio was smiling in a laid back manner, gazing down at Yoko’s happy face. Looking backwards, Rin saw Ambrose looking somewhere to his right, a look of boredom evident on his pale face. Rin knew that Ambrose wasn’t a big fan of the carousel; the slow moving ride didn’t seem to catch his interest. He was only in line because everyone else was and the only explanation Rin could think of was that he didn’t want to be left out, even if he didn’t like the ride. Ambrose has always been the kind of person who gets bored easily, who has always gravitated to the more exciting things. Whenever something would catch Ambrose’s interest, you would know right away. It was one of the few times that he didn’t look bored out of his mind.

As the carrousel began to slow to a stop, Rin looked ahead to see just how many people were in front of them. It wasn’t too many, so they would be able to get on next. The ride slowed to a crawl before coming to a complete halt. The worker opened the gate and the people already riding began to step down from the plastic unicorns. Once everyone exited the ride, the worker closed the gate back then walked over to the entrance gate to let them on. The worker is an average man in his thirties; nothing about him stood out or was rememberable. He wore a uniform that consisted of a pink t-shirt with the park’s name on the front, as well as a pair of black shorts. The worker undid the latch and swung the medal gate open. The line started to move as the people ahead began to board the carousel. Rin went up to the upper level with Ambrose while Yukio and Yoko stayed on the lower level. Yoko doesn’t like being high up, so she has always preferred the first level of the carousel. Rin took a seat on one of the white unicorns, the plastic saddle being pink with white polka dots. Some of the unicorns were white, while others where pale pink and purple.

Ambrose had taken the unicorn behind Rin, his being pink with a stripped pink and purple saddle. It didn’t take long for all of the unicorns had an occupant. A young teen around Rin’s age sat on the purple unicorn across from him. The first thing that Rin noticed about him was his hair. It was a pale white blonde color that practically glows in the sunlight like a halo. It was wavy, and fell in waves, stopping just at his shoulders. Rin had never seen anyone with platinum blonde hair in person before. He’s met plenty of blondes over the years, but never anyone with that pale shade. The boy appeared to be around Rin’s height, though it was hard to tell sense he wasn’t standing exactly. The blonde looked over in Rin’s direction, revealing a pair of pale blue eyes that almost seemed to have a lavender tent to them. The boy’s skin was rather pale, but still held a warm flush to it. His features were soft, getting him the look of someone who might look younger than they actually are. The other boy either didn’t notice Rin’s staring or didn’t mind as he waved in Rin’s direction with a smile, “Hello.” Despite the boy’s soft pale features, his voice was distinctively male. Rin smiled back; at least he was polite, “Hey.”

That was all Rin could say as an announcement was heard over the music, “The ride is about to start, everyone must be securely seated before we can move.” A couple of workers walked around to check that everyone was in fact stationed on a winged unicorn they gave the operator the go head and made their way back off the carousel. The ride began to move, the unicorns slowly beginning to move up and down as they moved in a complete circle. It didn’t take long for the ride to pick up speed as it began to move with the tempo of the music. It was impossible to distinguish one voice over the other as the laughter of dozens of people mixed together into a single chorus of thrilled excitement. It might not be a roller-coaster, but this was still fun. Rin looked back to look at Ambrose, who was smiling. At least he was enjoying himself; that was the important part. Several rotations later, Rin felt the ride began to slow down. It was a bit disappointing; he wished it would last longer. Oh well, they can ride again later. Once the unicorns came to a stop the intercom came back on. “You may now exit the ride, the exit gate can be found to the left. Just before Rin got down, he noticed the boy with the platinum blonde hair walk over to a dark skinned girl with short bright red curls. The two were quickly lost from sight as everyone began to get down and head towards the exit.

Rin and Ambrose met up with Yoko and Yukio at the exit, Yoko waving in their direction, an infectiously big smile on her face as the two approached. Ms. Kristy stood by them, a cone of cotton candy in hand. She had sat out; content to watch them have fun. Apparently Ambrose’s mom gets dizzy easy and can’t ride the carousel without getting sick. “That was so much fun; we need to ride again later.” Ambrose rolled his eyes at Yoko’s words from where he stood next to Rin, “Once is enough for me,” Ambrose’s blue eyes zoned in on a large roller-coaster not far from where they were, “let’s ride that.” Rin laughed at his friend’s sudden eagerness. Ms. Kristy let out a chuckle of her own, amused her son. “Let’s go then, hopefully Yoko’s tall enough to ride.” Yoko puffed her cheeks out in a way that reminded Rin of their mom, “I know I’m tall enough, I got a lot taller sense last year.” That it true, Yoko has grown some sense their last trip to Mephy Land, all though, there was no guaranty that the extra height was enough to get her on the ride or not. Yoko would just have to cross her fingers and hope she was tall enough this year.

As the group made their way to the nearest roller-coaster, Rin noticed Yukio swatting away at something in front of him. “You ok Yukio, was there a bug in your face or something?” Rin asked in concern as he watched his twin continue to swat at bugs that Rin couldn’t see. Yukio narrowed his eyes at the thing he was trying to swat away, “These little black bugs get out of my face.” Squinting his eyes, Rin tried to see the ‘little black bugs’ his brother had mentioned, but he didn’t see any. “I don’t see any bugs Yukio.” Rin said matter-a-factly, unable to see what it was that was bothering his brother. Yukio opened his mouth to retort but before he could get anything out, Yoko added her observation. “I don’t see anything either Yukio, are you sure they’re not black dots. You’re not overheating are you?” Yukio’s agitation seemed to melt away into a soft smile at his baby sister’s concerned voice. While it was still summer, and it was hot out today, they hadn’t really been walking around enough to overheat. Yukio stopped walking and gave Yoko a head pat, “I’m fine, you don’t need to worry about me. I do appreciate the concern though.” Yoko smiled at her brother’s words and everyone kept moving again. Rin on the other hand wasn’t as easily persuaded, a worried crease forming between his eyes. A voice in the back of his head whispered that something wasn’t right. If Rin had turned around at that moment, he would have seen Ambrose give his mother a knowing glance, just as he grabbed something out of the air and crushed it.

Yukio

Ever sense heading out that morning, Yukio couldn’t help noticing these strange black bugs flying everywhere. They were the strangest things he had ever seen, looking nothing like any bug he had ever seen. They were tiny, black, and round, with a tail and pointed ears attached to them. The strange creatures also seemed to have strange spikes and big green eyes that Yukio couldn’t help noticing. It was the strangest thing; it was as though the unnaturally creepy bugs had appeared over night. In all the years Yukio has lived in the area, he has never seen these things before, until that morning. It wasn’t natural, Yukio could feel it. As the day went on, the unusual bugs flew past his head as they traveled aimlessly in all directions. The bugs didn’t seem harmful, so Yukio decided to ignore them; it seems that the others were. Usually Rin would be the first to point out something usual, and yet he walked right past them without a second glance. It almost as if he didn’t see them, strange. Not even Yoko had commented on them, so Yukio had decided to not bring it up. No one else seemed to find them odd or interesting if they were acting like they didn’t exist.

Yukio couldn’t deny that it was unnerving to say the least, especially after they rode the carousel. The bugs had started flying in his face, and when Yukio had tried to swat them away, Rin had asked if there was anything there. He had said he couldn’t see them, even Yoko. Yukio didn’t know what to think at that, how could they not see the bizarre, clear as day bugs flying everywhere? It just didn’t add up. Was he just seeing thing? No, that can’t be right, besides, Yukio knows what it looks like to have black dots cover one’s vision, and this wasn’t it. Plus he knew it wasn’t overheating, he wasn’t even sweating or tired, just seeing weird bugs. But all the same, it didn’t change that fact that he was the only one seeing the strange creatures. The whole conversation had left him dumbstruck, how was it possible for the others not to see them. As this thought crossed his mind, Yukio watched another of the bugs float by Yoko’s face unnoticed. Actually, now that Yukio thought about it, he hadn’t seen anyone else either notice or comment on the sudden appearance of the round black creatures. Could no one else really see them? This was truly strange, but there was nothing he could do about it now. Not wanting to worry his family anymore, Yukio decided to drop the subject. He’ll worry about it later.

When the group had reached the front of the line for the roller-coaster, Yoko had to stand next the height chart to see if she was tall enough to ride. The top of her head just did touch the line marking the height limit, just barley allowing her to ride with everyone else. Yoko cheered, her red eyes filled with triumph. There’s nothing better then finally being tall enough to ride the roller-coaster. Yukio still remembers when both he and Rin were small, unable to ride the best rides do to their height, how time flies. The roller-coaster with was named the ‘Twisty tunnel’, had a few high hills and sharp turns, even going inside a tunnel at one point. Yoko sat next to him as everyone boarded, they had a fun time. After wards, the group traveled from one ride to the other, alternating between large roller-coasters and smaller rides. This included the bumper cars, tea cup ride and others of rides that Yukio didn’t know what to call. After a good few hours, everyone made their way to the concession stands to grab a bite to eat. Ms. Kristy bought everyone a large Mephy Land themed plastic bottle. It was the kind with the large crew on tops with a handle attached to the sides of the top. With drinks and food in hand, the group of five made their way over to a cement picnic table with connected benches. It was nice to sit down and take a short breather; even Yukio had started to get tired of walking.

Yukio took a bit out of a corn-dog as he watched a few of the strange bugs float by. Having seen them all day, Yukio has noticed that they weren’t all the same size; most of them were tiny, like the size of flies, while others were a bit bigger. It was the larger ones that allowed Yukio to notice the bugs’ strange features. Once again, Yukio seemed to be the only one who noticed them, what a pain. Glancing at the picnic table next to theirs he saw a couple of teens about his age. One is a tanned boy with straight jet black hair with a shaggy look to it. He was wearing one of those stick man shirts, though he was too far away to know what the shirt said. The dark haired boy is currently sipping an icy as he looks at the darker skinned girl sitting across from him. The girl’s hair is a mass of short thick deep red curls, ending halfway to her shoulders. The only part of the girl’s clothing Yukio could see was a teal tank top. The two appeared to be in the middle of a conversation, the dark haired boy making wild gestures with his free hand as he said something Yukio couldn’t hear.

Not wanting to be caught staring, Yukio was about to look away when he saw one of the round bugs flying around the girl. Yukio expected the girl to ignore it like everyone else, but instead she lifted an arm and smacked it away with the back of her hand and was even glowering at a second one that had started to float closer to them. Yukio couldn’t believe it; someone else had finally noticed the bugs to. The boy with the red head turned his head in the direction of the second bug before swatting it away. It seems he two could see them. The boy gave an exaggerated sigh before saying rather loudly, “Stupid coal tar, why are there so many of them around today, it’s so annoying.” Coal Tar? Is that what they’re called? Yukio has never heard of such a thing before, what are they exactly. The girl seemed to have said something, but her words were lost in the noise around them. So the two not only could see these ‘coal tar, but even knew what they were called. Yukio’s curiosity was starting to get the better of him. If he wanted to know what it was he was seeing, speaking with those two were his best bet. Unfortunately, Yukio wasn’t exactly the best at striking up conversations with strangers; that was more Rin’s department. If Yukio wanted answered though, he would have to think of away to approach the two and introduce himself without coming off as creepy.

At that moment a third teen walked over and sat down with the dark haired boy and ginger girl. The new comer had a head full of shoulder length, wavy white blonde hair that was so pale it practically glowed in the direct sunlight. He was much paler then the first two, his complexion standing out among his two companions. The platinum blonde had been holding a purple icy and a serving of chicken nuggets before setting them down on the surface before him. The arrival of the third had made Yukio loose his nerve in approaching them. He didn’t even know what he would even say, or how he would even bring up the topic. Yukio was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt something nudge his side. Looking away from the trio, Yukio saw Yoko, who was sitting next to him, giving him a worried look. “Are you ok Yukio, you barely touched your food.” Yukio looked down at his half eaten corn-dog, he had gotten so wrapped up in the trio over there and wanting to know what these ‘coal tar’ are that he forgot about the food in front of him. And now he had gone and made Yoko worry about him again, he didn’t want that, he was the older brother, it was his job to worry for her well being, not the other way around. Yukio gave his sister a reassuring smile as he picked up his corn dog and took a bite out of it. “I’m fine Yoko, I just got lost in thought for a moment there.” Yoko took his word at face value, nodding her head in understanding.

Across from him, Yukio noticed that Rin had shoved a couple of French fries into his mouth to resemble fangs as he tried to get a laugh out of Ambrose, who was simply looking at him like he had screw loose. Rin ate the fries with a pout, “You’re no fun.” Ambrose rolled his eyes, “You’re just not funny.” This response made Rin’s pout deepen. “I think you’re funny Rin,” Yoko said, turning her attention to her other brother. Rin smiled at his sister’s words, “Thanks Yoko, at least I can believe in you.” Rin can be dramatic some times. Suddenly Rin pulled his phone out of his pocket as he leaned closer to Ambrose. “Oh yea, I forgot, I wanted to show you something funny I saw last night.” That seemed to have peeked their friend’s interest as he leaned closer to get a better view of what Rin was trying to show him on his smart phone. Yukio couldn’t help but smile at his brother’s antics. Looking back at where the trio was sitting, Yukio noticed they had gotten up and were walking away, just as they were hidden from sight in a sea of people. It looks like Yukio lost his chance; there was nothing he could do about it now. If they could see these ‘coal tar’ then there was a chance he might run into someone else who could tell him what they were. But for now he will just be in the dark. Once everyone had finished eating, Yukio made his way over to a trash can to throw his trash away. Just before they continued walking again, Yukio noticed a tanned woman with long red and yellow hair tied into a ponytail, in a pink bikini top and blue jean short shorts, standing in front of the concession stand. That was all Yukio could see of her as he turned away and fallowed the others deeper into the crowd around them.

Shiro

Relaxing on the couch, Shiro laid snuggled with Yuri as a movie played from the DVD player. One arm rested on the arm rest, propping his head up while the other was wrapped around his wife’s middle. The couple was currently watching a romance movie Yuri had bought a few weeks ago called A Heart’s Journey. The only thing Shiro knew about it was that it was in theaters a few months back. It wasn’t exactly something he would normally watch, but he would for Yuri. If she wanted to watch this movie with him, he couldn’t say no. Shiro did still want to watch that horror-thriller movie that came out last Halloween called, ‘House of Orchids,’ but for now, romance.

It was nice having the afternoon to just them. With it being summer vacation, it was difficult to get some alone time with the love of his life. While he loved the kids with all of his heart, even he needed a brake every once in a while. And with the kids of at Mephy Land, a name Shiro would forever roll his eyes at, he and Yuri finally had the whole day to themselves. Shiro could hear Kuro’s collar shake somewhere nearby, who knows what that cat demon was up to. Most likely playing with some of the cat toys Rin and gotten for him not to long ago. Kuro may be a demon, but there was times when he acted like a normal cat.

Shiro felt Yuri snuggle deeper into this arm as the movie he was barley paying attention to reached its climax. From what Shiro had paid attention to, the movie itself was rather predicable and a bit cliché. That didn’t make it a bad movie, just not something Shiro was into. Looking down at Yuri’s face, he could see her focus was entirely on the romance movie she had bought. She had really gotten into it, and seeing her happy was all that mattered. When the movie ended and the credits began to roll, Shiro sat up and stretched his arms over his head. Yuri proceeded to set up as well, though instead of getting up she twisted herself around until she was sitting in Shiro’s lab, her PJ clad legs straddling either side of him. Yuri wrapped her slim arms around Shiro’s neck, bringing her head closer to his as their foreheads touched. “The kids are gone; we have the apartment all to ourselves, how about we have a moment of our own.” How could he say no to that, and the sultry look she was giving him was making it difficult to think of anything else.

Shiro wrapped his arms around Yuri’s waist, pulling her body closer to his. Yuri tilted her head, her lips quickly finding Shiro’s quick sweet kiss. The feel of her soft lips on his made a shudder run down Shiro’s spine, God he loved this woman. Yuri gave him a teasing smile before leaning back down for another kiss. Her body pressed deeper into Shiro, the contact making Shiro’s body feel as if it was full of electricity. Shiro may not be as young as he used to be, but he knew he could still make his wife happy. Moving his arms from around Yuri’s waist to her shoulders, Shiro pulled her even closer deepening their kiss in the progress. It was in moments like this that Shiro still found himself amazed at how lucky he was to have her in his life. Just fifteen years ago, Shiro would have never believed that he would be living with Yuri Egin in the United States. He may have given up everything, but it was worth it to be able to hold the woman in his arms, to be able to watch their children grow up. As their kiss deepened, Shiro felt Yuri’s hands trail their way from behind his head to cup his face, her soft hands warming up his skin where they touched. This continued for a good several minutes, hands moving across clothed skin, deep kisses that left both breathless. It was when Yuri pressed herself down onto Shiro’s crotch that he knew it was time to move this to the bedroom. With one fell swoop, Shiro stood up with the small woman in his arms. Yuri let out an excited surprised squeak before breaking into giggles. She wrapped her arms securely around his neck as he carried her to their room.

It was late afternoon when Rin, Yukio, and Yoko returned home. Kristy had called earlier saying that she was going to stop and get everyone something to eat on the way home. Sense neither Shiro nor Yuri felt like cooking, they had ordered some takeout. Shiro and Yuri were chilled out on the couch watching TV when they saw the door open. Rin was the first one in the door, a smile on his face as he declared, “We’re home!” Yoko and Yukio fallowed after, all of them holding a bag with what Kristy must have bought for them. Speaking of Kristy Faust, Shiro was never sure if he should trust her or not. A part of him whispered that it was too much of a coincidence that this woman with the same last name as Mephisto’s public name to just happen to move in right next to them. But sense there was no proof that she was connected to that clown, Shiro was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Yoko ran over to them gave her mom a big ol’ bear hug. His daughter was practically vibrating with excitement as she pulled out a large white unicorn plushy out of the bag she had. The unicorn was thick and had a little pink tongue sticking out of its mouth. It was kind of cute. Yoko snuggled the stuffed animal to her chest as she began firing off everything they did that day without pause. The young girl’s excitement was infectious. Even though Yoko’s nonstop talking was overwhelming, neither Shiro nor Yuri could help but smile to. Rin and Yukio walked over as well, each one telling their parents what they did and how much fun they had at the amusement park. Shiro was happy to hear that they enjoyed themselves, he knows he did. The sound of tiny paws on wooden floor caught everyone’s attention as Kuro ran over to where everyone was and jumped onto the couch, staring at Rin with wide eyed excitement. The mostly black cat pawed at the back in Rin’s bag, meowing as he jumped onto Rin’s shoulders to get a better view of what he had.

After the three of them put away their souvenirs, Yuri told them to start getting their baths. They have been running around all day and would have definitely worked up a sweat. Once everyone was cleaned up and in sleep clothes, they all gathered in the living room to watch TV together. The rest of the night went by smoothly, Yoko even falling asleep on Rin’s shoulder at one point. The poor thing must have worn herself out having fun today. Yuri had been the one to gently pick her up and carry her to bed. It was just after the twins went to bed that Shiro went to get something to drink before going to bed himself. On the fridge was a calendar with a date circled and the words ‘open house’ written underneath. Sense school was starting back soon; open house was just in a couple days. Shiro was going to take Rin and Yukio to their open house at the high school, while Yuri took Yoko to her own at the elementary. This was something they did every year sense the twins started middle school; it was easier when they split up and tackled two different open houses at the same time.

After a quick chug of some ice cold water, Shiro made his way to his and Yuri’s shared room. Having already changed into his sleepwear for the night, he was about to head to bed where Yuri already was when he looked at the bedroom closet where he had the twins’ sealed objects hidden away. There was a drawer hidden in the back of the closet where Shiro had moved the gun and sword to when he officially moved into this room. Shiro would never understand why, but at that moment an overwhelming need to check the seals crashed into him. If he didn’t check them before he went to bed, he knew he would never get to sleep. Opening up the closet, Shiro pulled the closet string, turning the light on. Inserting the key into the middle drawer, Shiro opened it up to reveal the hidden pocket dominion storage. Shiro grabbed the smaller box first, this one holding the gun that held Yukio’s demon heart. He was sure that everything was fine; that he was just being paranoid, but when he opened it up, his worse fears was proven true. A dark energy was leaking out from the sealing paper attached to the side of the gun. It was at that moment that Shiro processed the horrifying truth; Yukio’s seal was breaking down. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you like it, I intended to get to the open house this chapter, but that will have to wait for next time. Before anyone asks, in this story, Yukio doesn't wear glasses, only Yoko and Shiro. Plus Shura makes a quick appearance, why is she in New York, we will find out soon.


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shura and Ainsley arrive in New York, and Rin goes to open house

One week before trip to Mephy Land.

Japan branch, True Cross Academy, Mephisto’s mansion

Mephisto

It’s been 10 years sense Mephisto stripped his brother, Amaimon, of his demon heart and turned him into a human child. During that time, Yukari, the young exorcist sent with the demon king of earth, has been reporting to him about the on goings of the Okumura family. Mephisto leaned back into the thick plush of an arm chair, one long leg crossed over the other. He still remembered reading about Shiro and Yuri’s newest family member from Yukari’s first report. Mephisto had been happy for them; it was nice knowing that things were going great on their end. It had taken those humans so long to admit their feelings for each other. Mephisto might like himself a good slow burn every now and again, but even he had wanted them to just kiss already. Though to be fare, Yuri’s relationship with Satan had complicated matters. That relationship had ended badly, turning into a dumpster fire when Yuri had turned her back on the god of all demons when she had learned of what he had done years ago to get her all to himself. It had ended horribly; it wasn’t something Mephisto liked to think about. The look of blinding rage on his father’s face as he was rejected by the first human he had ever met, his inability to understand that he had brought it down upon himself. His selfish, possessive nature ruining the only good think he ever had. Still, reading about how Yukari had described little baby Yoko had brought a smile on his face. He had been half temped to poof over a gift for the baby girl as congratulations, but thought better of it. Technically, he shouldn’t know about that and he didn’t want it to be too obvious that someone watching them. 

The scent of rose and lavender filled the private study of the large mansion that sat at the very top of True Cross Academy. One wall was covered with a large mahogany bookshelf, from floor to ceiling, and one wall to the other. All the shelves were filled with books, manga, light novels, as well as all sorts of anime figures and merch he has gotten over the years. The floor is a polished dark wood, a thick plush white rug placed in the room’s center. Mephisto is currently resting in t he arm chair behind his large desk, two matching chairs positioned before him, each one carved in the most elegant way with dark wood, the cushions a deep red. The newest volume of his favorite manga rested in Mephisto’s clawed hands as he laughed at he laughed at the scene he was currently reading. Instead of his more professional attire, Mephisto was currently wearing his bright pink yukata with darker pink hearts scattered along it. He didn’t feel the need to be professional as he waited in his own home for his guest to arrive.

Today, Mephisto was having a special guest over, a relative he hasn’t seen sense the blue night, though that hadn’t been good time to chat and catch up. It’s hard to believe it’s been 16 years sense then. Time past so quickly sometimes, it can be difficult to keep up with the years. If he was to be honest with himself, he was looking forward to seeing them; it has been a long time after all. A knock could be heard from the other side of the large double doors connecting the study with the rest of the house. Mephisto called out for whoever had knocked to come in. One of the doors opened up, revealing an elder butler who has worked for the demon king of time and space for many years now. The man has a head full of this gray hear and nicely trimmed mustache, a perfectly ironed uniform like always. He is currently the seiner staff member, both in age and years employed. The human butler took a step back and gestured to the figure standing behind him. “You’re guest has arrived sir.” Mephisto recognized them instantly, their face exactly the same as it was when they last met. The figure stepped into the room, their step holding a confidence he didn’t recognize. Looking to his employee, Mephisto said, “Thank you, you can go now.” The elderly human gave Mephisto a deep bow before closing the door behind him.

This left Mephisto alone with his guest, who was currently looking around the study, violet eyes stopping on the large ornate fire place along the wall opposite of the bookshelf. The clothing and hair length may be different, but everything else about them was the same. Long white hair was pulled back and tied into a tight braid that hung lazily over a shoulder. Mephisto’s guest is a demon, or half demon to be exact. Their pointed ears proof of this. The half demon has a tall slim figure which was equally feminine as it was masculine. While their face was more feminine, the figure’s chest was as flat as a male’s. This made distinguishing the individual’s difficult, unless you already knew of course. They were clothed in a grayish blue suit jacket and slacks, over a dull silver vest, a grayish purple tie and white high collar shirt. There was a true cross exorcist pin, pinned to the front of their jacket. A pair of white silk gloves adorned their small feminine hands; a pair of black dress shoes finished their appearance. Mephisto stood and help out his arms in a dramatic fashion, “Ainsley, how’s my favorite niece been?” Despite her androgynous appearance, Mephisto knew the half demon before him was female. Ainsley’s violet eyes zoned in on Mephisto, a sigh passing her thin lips as she gave the older demon an uncertain look. I’m doing well Uncle, is there something you want?” Mephisto could hear the accusation in her words; an Irish accent could be heart as she spoke. Placing a hand over his heart in an overly dramatic hurt gustier, Mephisto let out a fake gasp as he replied, “Can’t I just want to catch up with my precious niece, why do you think I want something?”

Ainsley was unfazed by her uncle’s behavior, her only reaction being an exasperated sigh at her elder’s antics. “When don’t you want something, the only time you have ever invited me over is when there’s something you want.” Mephisto dropped the fake kicked puppy act and found himself laughing; that was true, very true in fact. He did have a habit in only inviting others when where was something he wanted. Mephisto sat back down in his large blush chair then gestured towards the two identical chairs positioned before the giant elaborately carved office desk. “Please, have a seat.” Ainsley sat down in the chair to the right, one long leg crossed over the other.

Ainsley is the daughter of Azazel, the king of spirits, the only other demon king alongside Mephisto who has sided with humanity. Her mother being a human witch who Mephisto had only ever met once. In fact, Ainsley is the spitting image of her human mother. From her petite figure and pale skin, to her facial structure, the half demon looked a great deal like the woman who had given birth to her. The most notable difference being that Mephisto recalled the human woman being rather short, much shorter then Ainsley, as well as having golden blonde hair and pale blue eyes. There wasn’t much else he recalled from their one and only encounter, other that she seemed to be someone he would enjoy playing with. But that was a long time ago, hundreds of years ago, if he remembered right. While Mephisto might not remember the exact year, he knew that his half demon niece was born somewhere in the late 13th century in Ireland. This made Ainsley over seven hundred years old, which would seem old to humans, but to a demon like Mephisto, such an age was still rather young. Ainsley’s face was set in a neutral expression, revealing nothing of what she might be thinking.

Realizing that a silence had fallen over the study, Mephisto snapped his fingers in a dramatic fashion. “How about a drink before we began?” Just as the Mephisto was about to snap a pot and tea cups into the room, Ainsley spoke up, “I’d love some Scotch, if you don’t mind.” Mephisto let out a loud laugh, he shouldn’t be surprised, his niece did love her whiskey after all. Especially some good Scotch. With a snap of his fingers a bottle of Scotch and a small glass with ice in it popped into existence into the small glass table nestled between the identical blush armchairs. Ignoring the glass, Ainsley picked up the bottle of alcohol, used one of her sharp nails to flick off the top and took a gulp. Oh Ainsley, always so classy until it comes to her favorite whiskey, then it was apparently ‘mine.’ Mephisto couldn’t help a muffled laugh at his niece’s behavior. Well she is still like a child compared to him, so it makes sense. Poofing himself up something nice to drink as well, Mephisto decided it was time to get down to get down to business.

Mephisto’s playful grin was replaced with a rare serious expression. “There’s something important I need you to do for me. It seems Astaroth has been poking his head in my business where it isn’t wanted.” Astaroth, king of rot and one of Mephisto’s must annoying brothers, had the audacity to show up at his gate possessing one of his students demanding to know where Amaimon was. Like he actually cared, he was only asking because their father wanted to know. Astaroth was one of Satan’s most loyal children, willing to do anything for him, and because of that Mephisto has always pitied him. Taking a sip of wine, Mephisto recalled how one of his sources of information had informed him that the King of Rot has been spotted in New York recently. This unsettled the king of time and space, for the last thing he needed was for his stupid younger brother to ruin all of his hard work. Just the thought alone made Mephisto want to scowl as well as a vain to throb on the side of his head.

Ainsley had been watching him with a calculating expression, clearly in thought. “What is it that you wish for me to do about that Uncle? You should already know that I refuse to use as a pawn between you and Uncle Astaroth.” The half demon’s words seemed to have been chosen carefully, the warning in her words clear as day. She refused to be used, even by family. But that wasn’t what Mephisto intended, for now anyway. He needs to reassure her that wasn’t the case. “You see, Astaroth is currently somewhere I don’t want him to be. All I ask of you is to travel to New York with an exorcist the order is already sending over there sometime today and keep an eye out for him. If you do see him, it would be best for you to keep your distance and not make contact. All I ask of you is to find him and keep me informed on what Astaroth is doing. Do you think you can handle that? You are a member of the Irish branch after all; so I’m confident you can.” Ainsley is an upper 1st class exorcist, her meisters being ‘doctor’ and ‘knight’.

The half demon remained silent for a few minutes, her violet eyes looking at nothing in general. Mephisto could see the wheels turning inside her head as she considered the favor. Ainsley brought the bottle of Scotch to her lips and took a deep swallow before finally responding. “To be honest with you uncle, I’ve already been thinking about visiting New York for personal reasons. If heading there can help you out as well, I’d be glad to knock out two birds with one stone. But there’s something I want you to do for me in exchange.” Mephisto leaned forward, intrigued by his niece’s words, “And what would that be?” Violet met green as Ainsley stared Mephisto straight in the eyes, “I want you to tell my father that I have an idea of where his youngest child is, and that I still haven’t given up looking, even after all of these years.” Those words had a sobering effect on Mephisto, his intrigued grin transforming into a sad smile. Mephisto still remembers how heartbroken Azazel was when his newest human lover vanished without a trace while pregnant with his child. He knew Azazel would love to hear news about a lead after fifteen years of looking.

Mephisto nodded his head in agreement, “I can do something as easy as that no problem.” Ainsley seemed satisfied with his answer, for she smiled happily and continued to drink her Scotch from the bottle, the glass sitting next to her completely forgotten. Mephisto glanced over at a large cuckoo clock hanging from the wall beside the fire place. He hadn’t realized how late it had gotten. It was almost time for him to meet up with Shura for a quick meeting in the True Cross headmaster’s office. Standing up from his armchair, Mephisto snapped his fingers and his comfy yukata was replaced with his usual outfit. “It’s about time for me to meet up with the exorcist you will be traveling with. I want you to come with me so you can meet her before you leave.” Mephisto already knew that Shura wasn’t going to be happy with him giving her a travel companion at the last second. Especially not someone Mephisto himself had picked out, that girl had made it very clear she didn’t trust him. Ainsley stood up from where she had been sitting and made her way over to Mephisto. The elder demon looked down at his niece who now stood beside him, “You ready?” Ainsley nodded her head in response. With one more snap of his fingers, the two poofed away, leaving the study completely empty.

Shura

_Shura would never forget the day everything around her had been burned down around her in blue flames. She was only eleven when the blue night accrued. At the time, Shura had no idea what was happening as the people around her burst into blue flames, their burning bodies filling the air with the stench of burnt flesh. It had been a scene straight out of nightmares, everyone running around in a panic, orders being fired off left and right as someone hollering for the children to be evacuated. Shura had only been a child at the time, unable to do anything but try to keep up with the other children of Asylum as the adults around them burst into flames one by one. Asylum being the orphanage/cram school that took in children with mashos and trained them to be exorcists. This was the place Shura ended up after Shiro had saved her from the snake demon that had raised her. As everything dissolved into chaos, a young Shura had heard one of the exorcists guiding the children way say something about ‘Satan attacking’, and ‘that witch’s fault.’ At that time, Shura had no idea what was happening, or just how significant that day would become. The heat of the flames and burning bodies had almost been unbearable, the sight of each individual burning to death before her eyes forever scorched into her brain. Even the screams of the dying would find themselves in her dreams._

_As everything began to die down, the Order was in complete chaos, people running back and forth searching for survivors and removing the remains of the dead. Watching each exorcist run by, Shura found herself looking out for Shiro. Even as a child Shura could feel the heavy weight of despair that seemed to seep off of everyone. The feeling so thick and suffocating that even Shura could feel it pressing down on her small shoulders. The looks of loss and confusion filled the eyes of all those that passed by, each one searching for loved ones. She needed Shiro; she needed him to reassure her that everything was going to be ok. Shura turned her head back and forth, looking to see if anyone was paying her any attention. With her teacher preoccupied with comforting several crying children and everyone else to busy with their own problems to notice, Shura slowly slipped away from the group. She ran from place to place, searching for a familiar head of white hair, but she just couldn’t seem to find him. After about ten minutes of running around, Shura sat down on a crate that had been pushed to the side. Shura had started to wonder if Shiro was even here, was she just wasting her time looking? It had been a while sense she last saw him, so she wasn’t too sure._

_Among the despair and the dead, the chill of winter only added to the painful aftermath of a great tragedy. The snow had once again started to fall, fresh flakes drifting around her and landing on top of her hair. Shura could feel the weight of what had happened crushing her, her body beginning to shake as the shock started to wear off. As Shura looked down at her small hands, she knew for a fact that in that moment, she didn’t want to be alone. She wanted Shiro to be there to comfort her to tell her that it was going to be ok. Shiro was the only person who she has ever truly relied on, the first person she had ever trusted. He saved her, gave her a life, a name. If it wasn’t for him, she would still be under the control of that demon snake, the one who had controlled her ancestors for generations. The sound of someone walking towards her caught Shura’s attention. Looking up, the child saw a familiar head of purple as the demon known as Mephisto Pheles stopped before her. The demon was wearing his more formal white suit, the one with the heart shaped belt buckle. Though at the moment his clothes seemed to have been singed, the sleeves and spots of his jacket and pants where covered with burn marks. Why his clothing was burned, Shura didn’t know. The demon gave her a concerned look as he held his decorated umbrella over his head. “What are you doing here?” The demon asked as he leaned forward, his umbrella now shielding Shura from the snow as well. “Why aren’t you with your class, it isn’t save to run off on your own, especially not in a situation like this one.”_

_Shura considered not answering, but she did anyway. “I was looking for Shiro, but I couldn’t find him. Do you know where he is?” Shura glared at the demon, her eyes demanding answers. If anyone were to know where Shiro was, it had to be this clown right here. Mephisto sighed, and for some reason looked down at her with sad eyes. But why, had something happened? A knot started to form in Shura’s chest as she started to fear the worst. The demon’s silence only increasing her dread, her heart beat beginning to increase from worry. “**Where’s Shiro?! Why won’t you answer me**?!” Shura finally yelled out in desperate aggravation. Shura could see the pity in Mephisto’s green eyes and; it filled her with white hot anger. Quickly losing her temper, Shura jumped up and grabbed the demon by the front of his clothing with small fists. Shaking the much taller man with her small arms, once again yelled out, “**Where’s Shiro, answer me**!” _

_Mephisto gently removed her hands from his clothing as he held her at arm’s length. “I didn’t want to be the one to tell you but, Shiro you see…is dead.” Shura blinked one, then twice, her face full of Incomprehensible confusion. She had to have misheard, right? Shiro can’t be dead right? That just didn’t make sense. As though reading her mind the demon shook his head and help up a hand, stopping Shura before she could voice her doubts. “I was there, I saw everything. I was about to report to the Grigori when I saw you setting here. If you want to know what happened why not attend the meeting, I’d rather not have to explain more than once tonight. As someone who was close to the late Shiro Fujimoto, you deserve to know how he died.” Mephisto held out a hand for her to grab, but Shura refused to touch him. Her mind swirling like a storm, her thoughts a jumbled mess. This couldn’t be happening right now, this wasn’t happening. But one look at the irritating demon before was all the clarification she needed. Without meeting his eyes, she finally said, “let’s go then, I want to know what happened.” With a twisted gin on his face, Mephisto snapped his fingers in a dramatic gustier and the two vanished from sight._

_Vatican Headquarters_

_Standing in a corner to not be noticed, Shura watched the gathered exorcists mingle, each one with a haunted expression on their faces. The large meeting room was filled with exorcists from many different countries; the sound of multiple languages could be heard missing together as everyone spoke over each other. Sitting not far from Shura was pale figure whose gender she couldn’t figure out. They had on a pale blue suit and had long white hair tied back into a long braided ponytail. Shura couldn’t tell if they were a man or a woman, their appearance to _androgynous_ for the child to decipher. They sat next to an elder man with slicked back gray hair and seemed to be hunched over. The two spoke in a language that Shura didn’t recognize, though that wasn’t surprising. There were a lot of languages she didn’t know. Gravitating to those who spoke Japanese; those being a couple of exorcists Shura didn’t recognize, sitting next to Mephisto. Shura quietly listened to them speak from her hiding spot. They spoke about the high death count as well as the damages that would take a long time to recover from. It was a lot for a child to take in. The last to arrive was three clocked figures that sat down at a long table in the front. Shura recognized them immediately as the Grigori, the order’s high council. The room had quickly silenced to a hush with their entrance, anyone not already seated having taken a seat. It would seem that the meeting was about to begin. _

_The middle Grigori spoke first to start the meeting, their voice loud and clear as they spoke in English. It would seem that the meeting would be held in English so everyone would be able to understand each other. It was a good thing Shura had quickly picked up English over the past few years of attending the cram school. The Grigori spoke about how the demon god Satan had attacked the Order and how it was the witch Yuri Egin who had summoned him into their world to do her bidding. Shura clinched her fists in anger, how dare they call Yuri a witch. Shura had first met her not long after Shiro had first brought her back to the Japan branch with him. Yuri had been a kind sweet woman who Shura could picture as a mother figure if though she didn’t remember her own. She was a good person; the Yuri that Shura knew wouldn’t have done what they were accusing her of. She just could understand. As each branch head stood to make their report, Shura could feel the true scope of what had accrued this night grow bigger and bigger ,each explaining how their branch was attacked and affected. It would seem that the Japan branch wasn’t the only one’s affected by this. _

_The last to speak was Mephisto, who had been quite up until this point. The demon stood up from his were had been sitting, an unusually serious look on his face. Clearing his throat, Mephisto began his report on the attack on the Japanese branch, explaining in detail the large number of casualties as well as the extensive damages that had caused. It was when Mephisto had paused in his report that one of the Grigori spoke up, “What about Yuri Egin and the spawn of Satan she carried? They were eliminated as ordered, correct?” Shura felt her heart sink at the coldness of those words, these people must truly blame Yuri for everything. Mephisto didn’t seem bothered by this at all, though Shura could have sworn she saw a quick smirk on his face before he dived into the next part of his report. Shura felt numb as she listened to the demon describe how it had been both him and Shiro who found Yuri just after giving birth to a still born. How she passed away right after from the strain of carrying Satan’s child. And finally, spoke of how Shiro, the truly good man he was, had tried burying both her and her child, only to be killed by Satan when he appeared before them and set the cabin ablaze after going into a blind rage at the sight of his lover and child’s dead bodies._

_Shura didn’t want to believe it, every fiber of her being trying to reject the truth she was being told. But it did make sense if she was to be honest with herself. She could tell that Shiro had feeling for Yuri, even if he never admitted it. She could clearly see him wanting to bury the woman he loved, to give her a proper burial. But the very thought of losing Shiro made her heart squeeze painfully in her chest. He may not have been the nicest of people, and may have had a bad attitude, but Shura loved him like a father. She had wanted to stay by his side sense the day they met. A part of her had even hoped that if Shiro and Yuri ever got together, the three of them could be a family. But now, that dream had turned to ash. Both of them were dead now, torn from her life without any warning. It wasn’t fare, why could she be happy with her loved ones, why did they have to die and leave her behind. Shura remained hidden behind a pillar, her small hands clutching the stone before her so hard her knuckles turned white. Tears fell silently down her cheeks, unnoticed and filled with pieces of her broken heart. It was then that Shura swore to the late Shiro Fujimoto that she would study, train hard, and one day become an exorcist as good as him, she would fight on and become someone he would have been proud of. _

Shura yawned as she felt herself waking up. Stretching tan arms over her head, Shura looked around the inside of the private jet she was currently ridding in. Vatican Headquarters had reassigned her to the US’s New York branch to help an investigation on a string of killings that were demon related. Shura hadn’t been given much info other than that this has been ongoing for months now with no evidence to figure out what has happening. Shura could help but sigh at the lack of information her superiors had given her. But Shura wasn’t the only one being sent, a second individual sat crossed legged in a comfy plush seat not far from her. They were the only two, other than the pilot, that was aboard the air craft. Shura had been introduced to them by Mephisto when she had gone to see him. The white haired half demon was to be her companion on her mission. This had taken her for a loop sense Headquarters hadn’t mentioned a travel companion before she left. Shura had recognized the white haired demon instantly, recognizing her from the international emergency meeting that Mephisto had secretly brought her alone to as a child.

Mephisto had introduced the androgynous looking half demon as Ainsley Evermore, an upper first class exorcist from the Irish branch. He had also mentioned that Ainsley is his niece, which would make Ainsley a ‘her’. At least Shura knew what to refer to her as now. Ainsley looked exactly the same as she had before, the only real difference being her clothing. Up close, Shura couldn’t help but notice how her chest was completely flat, she was most likely wearing a binder. Well, that was Shura’s theory anyway. Ainsley was currently reading a large hard covered book, a set of pink plastic headphones resting in her pointed ears. The long pink cord traveled down to her pants pocket, where Shura assumed her phone was tucked away in. The small plastic ear buds didn’t seem to match her appearance, looking out of place on Ainsley’s person. The other seemed to have noticed Shura’s staring for she removed an ear bud and looked back at her with violet eyes. “Yes?” Ainsley had asked in a kind, curious manner, as if thinking the reason behind Shura’s stare was to ask a question. Even with a single word, Shura could hear the other’s accent, even if it wasn’t that strong. Shura dismissed the question with a wave of her hand, “Oh it’s nothing, just lost in thought is all. Didn’t mean to stare at ya.” Ainsley seemed satisfied with that as she replied, “That’s ok, I didn’t mind.” The half demon returned the bud to her ear and returned to reading. Shura herself wasn’t much of a reader, she has always found it boring to just sit down and read. She would much rather to out doing something, being active. But here on a private jet, that wasn’t an option. That must have been why she dosed off earlier; she had gotten bored during the flight. It was a long flight between Tokyo and New York after all.

Pulling out her phone, Shura turned on the screen and noticed an unread message from her foster brother displayed in the notifications. His name is Yamada Hanashiro, the son of the Hanashiros, the couple who had adopted Shura after the blue night. After the blue night, most of the orphans living within Asylum had been adopted by exorcist families, the former cram school having been destroyed and reduced to rubble. Yamada is currently fifteen, and in his first year of high school. He had even begun attending the cram school at True Cross academy. He was a tall, lanky kid with messy brown hair and dark eyes. Though his hair and eyes are usually covered with the hood of his favorite black hoodie he loves to where. Yamada has always been on the shy side, always keeping his hood pulled over his head, making it difficult to get a good look at him. He is kind of anti-social to be honest, not really talking to others to often. But he did talk to Shura quite often, always asking her to play video games with him. Being eleven years his senior, Shura had always managed to win when they played fighting games one on one. Shura had done a lot of babysitting back then, those had been fun days. Now-a-days, Yamada is always on his new PSP, he had gotten it last Christmas along with a few games for it. Yamada’s text had been a simple goodbye, telling her to be careful while she was away. Shura rolled her eyes at that; she wasn’t the one who need to be worried about. She quickly sent him back a text she knew wouldn’t be seen for a while and tucked her phone away again.

Glancing back at the half demon, Shura wasn’t sure what to make of her. She didn’t seem to be that bad, regardless of whom she was related to. She just didn’t seem to let off much of a presence for Shura to get a feel for. Actually, now that Shura thought about it, Mephisto is the demon king of Time and Space, so if Ainsley is his niece then her father has to be one of the other demon kings. Which one, she had no way of telling. Sense they were going to be on this jet for a while; she might as well try to get to know the other exorcist. “Hey Ainsley,” Shura started in order to get the other’s attention. When Ainsley once more looked up from her book, Shura continued, “I was wondering, which demon king are you related to?” Ainsley responded instantly, her face neutral as she spoke, “That would be Azazel, the king of spirits.” The king of spirits, huh, the only other demon king other then Mephisto who had declared themselves allies of the True Cross Order.

“I see, well how about we try getting to know each other before we land it New York.” Shura suggested, as she got up and walked over to the mini fridge that was stationed alone the opposite side of where she was. Opening up the miniature fridge, Shiro pulled out a cold can of beer then looked over at Ainsley, “You want one?” She asked as she danged the can from her fingers. Ainsley shook her head, “No thank you, I don’t like beer, but I would love some whiskey if we have some.” Shura hummed in response and pocked her head back down to see what else there was. Seeing a bottle of scotch in the back, Shura pulled it out and waved it in the air, “Will this do?” A happy smile formed on Ainsley’s face at the sight, “Oh yes, that’s my favorite.” Storing that information for later, Shura handed Ainsley the bottle and sat back down with her own can of good ol beer. Looking out of one of the window’s Shura knew that she was going to have to deal with some nasty jet-lag when they arrived. Though that could have been avoided with they had used one of the special keys to just teleport there, but no they had to go the normal way.

There was nothing Shura could do about that now, just await the unavoidable. The two exorcists spent the rest of the flight chatting and getting to know one another. At one point, Shura had even nodded off again from boredom, but woke up when she felt the jet about to land. They had landed in the New York air port, where their ride to the New York Headquarters should be waiting for them. Once the jet had safely landed, Shura grabbed her belonging and made her way towards the exit. Ainsley was right behind her, an expensive looking traveling case rolling behind her as they made their way down the steps and onto the air strip. Just as Shura had predicted, a black car with the True Cross symbol was waiting for them. After putting their belongings into the trunk, the two got into the back of the car, the driver another exorcist who had been ordered to pick them up. The driver was a young woman in her thirties, sandy blonde hair tied back into a bun. “Welcome to America Ms. Kirigakure, and Ms. Evermore.” How this woman was able to tell that Ainsley was a ‘Ms.’, Shura would never know. “I’ll be taking you to the New York branch’s headquarters now, is there anything you need to do before we leave.” Shura thought about it but shook her head, “No, we might as well go ahead and report in.” Ainsley nodded in agreement. With everyone in agreement the driver pulled out of the air port parking lot and made her way towards True Cross Academy.

Rin

The day had finally come for Rin to have to return to school for open house, and for one he didn’t mind. Normally the idea of open house was nothing more than a painful reminder that summer vacation was over, but this year it was a reminder that he was going to be a high-schooler this year. Even though the thought of having to go back to school next Monday made him wont to groan, he was excited to see the High School both him and Yukio would be attending soon. They were going to be high school freshmen this year, the beginning of their final years of school. Rin may not be as good of a student as his brother, but he did his best and always past his classes, even if his grades were always average. At least he wasn’t failing, his mom would chew him out if he were to come home was a bad grade. The last thing Rin wanted was to make his mom angry with him. 

At the moment, Rin is sitting Indian style on the couch, PS controller in hand as he played a racing game against his little sister Yoko. Yoko is on her knees, legs tucked underneath her as she sat beside her big brother. Yukio was standing behind the sofa; arms resting on the couch’s cushioned back as he leaned forward his head between his two siblings, watching them play. At the moment they only had two controllers so they were taking turns playing. They are currently racing through the Silver Lake course, Rin being in second place and Yoko in fifth. They were on their third and final lap, Rin quickly closing in one first place. Rin’s face was scrunched in concentration, his tongue poking out of his mouth as he pored all of his focus into passing the car in front just as he past the finish line in first place. Rin threw his arms into the air in triumph as the golden first place trophy appeared on his half of the screen. Yoko had managed to work her way up to third at the last second, ending this round. Rin was just about to hand the controller to Yukio when their mom poked her head in from the kitchen, “It’s almost time to go, so you should go ahead and turn the game off.” Yoko nodded her head, “Ok mom,” then returned to the title screen before powering of the game console. Well that was fun while it lasted.

Once the controllers where put away, Rin grabbed his shoes from the shoe rack by the door and slipped them on. Their dad was going to be taking Rin and Yukio to their open house while Yumi was taking Yoko. Speaking of their dad, Shawn had just walked through the door, having just gotten back from a walk. Rin had almost forgotten he had left earlier for some fresh air. Actually, he had been gone for a while, he must have stopped somewhere to rest. Yumi gave her husband one of her famous pouty faces, “Shawn I told you to be back sooner, it’s almost time to take the kids to open house.” Shawn rubbed the back of his head a strange look on his face, “Sorry about that, I kind of…lost track of time.” Rin noticed a concerned look on his mom’s face before it was quickly replaced with a smile, “That’s ok, you’re here now.” Once the awkward pause pasted, walked over to the couch where Rin and his siblings were, one of his usual grins plastered on his face, “So you two about ready to go.” A small voice in the back of Rin’s head whispered that something wasn’t right, but he pushed it away. It was nothing to worry about; he was just worried over nothing. The guys were the first to leave, the high school being further away then the local Elementary. 

When they arrived at the school gates, Rin saw that it looked to be just how he imagined. It was just an ordinary inner city school with four stories and a small courtyard. At the moment the school gates where wide open as families made their way through. The school was crowded today, teens and parents alike milling around as new and old students walked around campus to meet their new teachers. Once in the building, they fallowed signs pointing to the gymnasium where the student schedules where being handed out. The gym was a large rectangular room with a basketball court, pulled up hoops on each side of the gym. A good chunk of the crowd seems to be centered here, several booths set up with letters displayed above, each one with a line in front. The first booth had A-D written, while the second had E-H, and the rest of the booths went in this pattern. It didn’t take long to find the booth with their last name’s initial. Luckily the line was moving rather quickly so it didn’t take long to reach the front where either a teacher or faculty member stood with a stack of schedules before her. “Last name please,” the woman has asked when the people ahead of them had walked away. “Okumura,” Shawn had replied from where he stood behind Rin and Yukio. The woman picked up the pile of papers before asking, “How would you spell that?” Sense ‘Okumura’ wasn’t a normal last name; they often found that question asked often. It wasn’t annoying or anything, that’s just how it was. Shawn replied once more, “That would be O-K-U-M-U-R-A.” The woman quickly pulled out two schedules and handed them to Rin and Yukio. 

Stepping out of line, Rin looked down at the piece of paper he had been handed. The schedule listed six classes, each one listed from first block to sixth block. There were the four main core classes, Math, science, language arts, and history; math being Rin’s first class of the day, which made him groan. That’s too early to deal numbers and complicated math equations. How was he suppose to concentrate on something as complicated as math when he was still half asleep. Then there were the two extracurricular classes being Home economics, which made Rin feel better after having to deal with math first, and lastly, Physical Ed. At least he would have a class he can be active in. Next to each class title were the names of the teachers teaching each class and the room numbers of the class rooms they would be teaching in. Rin turned towards his dad and brother, showing them his schedule. “Hey look, home economics, isn’t that awesome?” He was practically sparkling as he declared that. Yukio smiled as he let out a soft laugh, “That’s great Rin; I know how much you love cooking.” Growing up, Rin has always loved helping his mom in the kitchen, even helping her in her Café when he got the chance. Shawn was happy for him as well, giving him a pat on the back as they finally made their way back out of the gym and over to where the classrooms were.

From looking at both Rin and Yukio’s schedules, it was easy to come to the conclusion that all of the first year classes were on the first floor in the left wing of the building. Well that did make sense, why wouldn’t all of the first year classes be put together. The first classroom they entered was Rin’s math class. It was an ordinary room, no different than many others Rin has seen over the years. Rows of desks facing a white board, a projector attacked to the ceiling facing the same way. The teacher’s desk sat in a corner next to a large window with white and green checkered patterned curtains that were currently tied open to let in the sun light. The teacher is a young woman with short brown hair wearing a white blouse and black pencil skirt. At the moment she was talking to another family, at least, Rin assumed they were family. There were two of them, one being a tall dark skinned man with straight black hair and glasses on his face. He looked to be around the same age as their dad Shawn, but there was no way to know for sure. The boy standing beside him looked nothing like him, actually he looked familiar. Looking closer, Rin realized that he was the platinum haired boy from the carousel. The pale haired boy, whose name Rin still didn’t know, looked over to where a large fish tank was set up, bubbles rising from the bottom and many different colored fish swimming around.

He walked towards the fish tank, and leaned forward to look at the fish. Rin saw this as a good opportunity to introduce himself. Walking over to where the pale skinned boy stood Rin found himself looking at the fish as well, their small bodies traveling in every which way as some moved around and others remained still. Looking over Rin said, “Looks like we meet again, what are the odds of that happening. My name’s Rin Okumura, what’s yours?” The boy took Rin’s outstretched hand into his own, giving it a quick shake, a warm smile on his face, “My name’s Shane, Shane Pinto. It’s nice to meet you Rin. What block do you have this class in?” The boy, who Rin now knew was named Shane, asked curiously. Rin didn’t need to look back at his schedule to answer that, it was the first class on it after all. “First block,” Rin’s response was met with a friendly grin, “So do I, isn’t that great. We’re going to be in the same class.” Rin couldn’t help but find the other’s cheerful attitude infectious. A big grin formed on Rin’s own face as he smiled back, “That is great, I’d like to get to know you better.” Rin could already see himself becoming friends with Shane; he could already tell what a good person he was. Looking back at the darker skinned man, who was now chatting with Shawn, Rin found himself curious about him.

Without thinking, Rin had blurted out, “So who’s that over here, a relative of yours?” Rin regretted the question as soon as he had said it, that wasn’t any of his business. Luckily Shane didn’t seem to mind as he answered without hesitation. “Oh that’s my dad, and before you ask he’s not my real dad. He adopted me when I was little.” Rin wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, he hadn’t expected the other to just blurt that out so casualty to someone he didn’t know. Well at least that means it didn’t bother him, which was a good thing. Rin rubbed the back of his head, a playful laugh coming out as he replied, “There’s nothing wrong with that, I was just curious.” Shane just kept smiling, “That’s ok. It’s normal to be curious sense we don’t look anything alike.” Rin couldn’t deny that was true, it would be difficult to believe they were family at a single glance. 

Just then, Rin heard his dad call him over, “Hey Rin, come over here and greet your teacher.” Rin looked back at Shane who was once again watching the fish, “Looks like I’ll talk to you later then.” Shane nodded his head, “Talk to you later then.” Making his way over to where the others were standing, Rin was greeted by the young teacher who looked to be in her twenties. “It’s nice to meet you Rin, I’m Ms. Grassy, and I look forward to having you in my class this year.” She seemed sincere at least, a genuine smile on her face as she spoke. “We don’t have home room so you’ll come directly here in the mornings when the bell rings.” Rin nodded in understanding, the middle school he had gone to didn’t have home room either. Ms. Grassy then went over what they were going to be doing in class as well as handed him a sheet of paper with everything he was going to need for her class. Shane and his dad had already left by the time Rin and his own family made their way back into the hallway. They still needed to meet the rest of Rin’s teachers, as well as Yukio’s teachers. It would seem that Yukio’s math class was with a different teacher, so there were still many more teachers to meet. The Okumura family made their way down the crowded hallway, heading towards the next class room to visit.

Mephisto

It’s been a couple days now sense Yukari had contacted him. The young exorcist had explained in detail about how she had noticed him interacting with some coal tar that had been floating around that day. In order for this to be possible, it would mean that the younger twin has started to see demons weather he has realized this or not. Mephisto was currently walking around the Mephy Land by his own school, the park closed due do it being night time. A cool breeze blew through, ruffling the white cap he wears over his typical attire. Mephisto knew that in order for Yukio to be able to see the coal tar, his seal would have to have started to break down. This didn’t surprise the demon kind of time and space one bit. The seal on the gun he had used to seal away Yukio’s demon heart had been a last minute improvise. The gun wasn’t a perfect vessel like the koma sword, which had once held a powerful phoenix. The gun in comparison had only held a week flame spirit for a short amount of time and just wasn’t truly strong enough to hold the demon heat of one of Satan’s children. But at the time it had been their only option. If only one of the twins had been born with flames, Mephisto wouldn’t have had to quickly scramble to find a second container. But what happens happens, and Mephisto had found the whole thing to be rather fascinating. To think that Yuri had been carrying twins without anyone realizing it, truly interesting.

Standing on top of the highest roller-coaster, Mephisto had a perfect view of the park he had funded to be built many years ago. Mephisto thought about how he had sent his niece Ainsley over there not too long ago to keep an eye on Astaroth for him. And now with this happening, he couldn’t have timed it better even if he had tried. A frown then crossed the demon’s face. What if Astaroth were to discover the twins while looking for Amaimon? Mephisto wasn’t ready for them to come out into the open yet, it was too soon. Another reason to have Ainsley keep an eye on the demon king of rot, all he ever did was get in Mephisto’s way. Such an annoying brother Astaroth was. But at the moment there was nothing he could do about that himself without drowning attention. All he could do was really on the ones he had keeping watch for him. It would seem that after sixteen years, things were finally beginning to move. The gamble Mephisto had started all those years ago was about to finally began. Mephisto could wait to see how it all played out, things were about to get interesting indeed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you guys enjoyed the faster update, i'm going to try updating soon from now on. I hope you like this chapter, it seems things about to heat up. Like before don't forget that Shiro will be referred to as 'Shawn' And Yuri as 'Yumi' when in the perspectives of those who only know them by those names.


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin and Shura meet for the fist time.

Shura

Morning of Open house

It’s been a little over a week sense Shura first arrived in America. With a loud yawn, Shura brushed her long red hair as she stood before the small cabinet mirror in the hallway bathroom of her temporary apartment. She had stayed up late the night before looking over case files that Andrew Garraway, the head of the New York branch, had given her. Sense the US was such a large country; the United States technically had two branches. There was the New York branch that covered the eastern half of the country, and the California Branch that covered the western half. Plus there were the smaller unofficial branches in both Hawaii and Alaska. 

Shura had been surprised when she had seen the files; she hadn’t expected to be sent to help in that kind of case. A spark of rage still flickered in Shura’s gut, her brush pulling harder than usual as troubling thoughts filled her head. It would seem that over the past few months several half demons have been found murdered all over the city, their bodies found strung up in alleyways. The words, ‘kill the demons,’ scrawled across a wall of the alley next to all of the bodies. From the pictures included, Shura had seen how crude the writing had looked as the spray paint that had been used to write it with had dripped down the wall. It was a rather unnerving sight. The fact that the paint had been red didn’t help either. They were all found dead three days after they were reported missing. It was a strange pattern, but one that could be used to give them time to try to find the next target when they were reported missing. The worst part was that all of the victims were between the ages of 14 and 17; they were all children for crying out loud!

True Cross has done everything they can to cover up the incidents from the public; it was exorcist business ever all. Shura didn’t know what to make of it; she had never investigated anything like it before. Typically it would be tracking former members who turned rouge, or hunting demons that were too strong for the average exorcist to deal with. But this, Shura was surprised that the order was giving this case as much attention as it was getting. The death of half demons was something the order has never really cared much about. Not wanting to question good fortune, Shura pushed the thought aside for now. She could worry about that later. 

Tying her hair back into a ponytail, Shura left the bathroom and grabbed her jacket that had been hanging over the dryer. Just then Shura heard her phone ringing from the bedroom at the end of the hallway. Sighing, Shura hurried into the room and snatched it off of the bedside table. Without checking the caller ID, the exorcist flipped her phone open and answered, “Hello?”

The slightly gruff voice of Andrew Garraway could be heard as he said, “There’s been another murder, the body was found in an alley between a couple apartment buildings on Baker Street. I need you go and help with the investigation, I’ll give you the address.” Silently cursing under her breath, Shura grabbed a pin and notepad and wrote down the address. Recognizing the name of the street as being on the upper side of town, Shura recalled that it wasn’t far from where Ainsley was staying. It also wasn’t too far away from where New York’s True Cross Academy stood. Shura hasn’t seen much of the half demon sense they arrived, they have only really interacted during the few times they bumped into each other at New York headquarters.

Ripping out the piece of paper, Shura informed Andrew that she would be right there. Locking up on the way out, she headed down the stairs to the main entrance to the apartment building. Once outside, Shura stood in the early morning light by the curve. It took a few minutes to hail a taxi, put once the yellow vehicle stopped before her; she got hopped into the back and gave the driver the address.

It didn’t take too long to get there, though it felt longer to Shura. This would be the first case that she would be involved in. The thought of finding some poor kid dangling in an alley made her stomach feel a little sick. As an exorcist, Shura has seen and fought much worse over the years, but it never made death easier. It didn’t help that this wasn’t something she usual handles. 

A stop light turned red at cross walk, making the driver slow down to a stop. Looking out the window, Shura noticed a small café shop across the street. In a slanted cursive font, the words, ‘Okumura Sweets,’ could be seen. It looked like a cute little place, a few tables were set up outside under an awning. The place looked interesting; she had always liked cafes like that. There was just something about them that reminded Shura of home. And by home, she means her adopted family. Shura considered checking the place out when she found time. Soon the time turned green and they were once more moving.

The taxi came to a stop in front of the Baker apartments. Paying the driver, Shura got out and headed over to where a group of exorcists had blocked off the alleyway. Recognizing one of the exorcists, Shura made her way over to a young man who she had met during her first assignment. Apparently the one leading the team had called out sick that morning with a fever and they needed someone to take his place. That was where Shura came in. Garraway had called her up and had asked if she would fill in. It had been a simple mission, clear out a pack of violent shadow hounds that had been inhabiting an old warehouse by the docks. They had been attacking people who would wander into the area after dark. Several have been critically injured, and a few have even died from having been bit. 

Shadow hounds are large demon dogs with multiple tails and a protective layer of black flames covering their bodies. They are very dangerous, their long canines coated in a lethal purple venom that’s deadly to humans. Without treatment, one would be dead within an hour. They were also known for being one of the best trackers in Gehenna. Shura knew a few tamers with shadow hounds for familiars. From what Shura has heard, they make grate familiars that are always fiercely loyal to their tamer, as long as they are mentally strong enough to control them anyway. 

Ryan, the exorcist Shura was familiar with, is a tall and lanky young man. Messy black hair covered the top his head along with small red horns growing from his temples, which curves upwards towards his forehead. His name is Ryan Paddock, a lower second class exorcist who had just recently passed the exorcist exam. Shura had enjoyed teasing him the last time they had met and wouldn’t mind getting to know him better. As well as teasing him some more. At the moment, Ryan was talking to a seiner exorcist who clearly wasn’t in a good mood. They appeared to be in some sort of disagreement, if the harsh tones and irritated glares from both parties were anything to go by. Shura sighed at the sight. She had just gotten here and teams on sight were already not getting along. Yea, that’s exactly what she needs right now. 

As Shura approached, the seiner exorcist, who is an older man who appears to be in his late forties noticed her approach. An angry scowl flipped into a welcoming smile as he greeted her. The animosity from before practically vanishing as Shura became his new focal point. “You must be Shura Kirigakure from the Japan Branch. It’s nice to finally meet you. The name’s George Ziegler, if there’s anything you need just let me know.” The man was of average height was a muscular build, the opposite of the young man’s tall lanky form. He held out his hand for her to shake, but Shura ignored it. There was just something about him that rubbed her the wrong way; that just felt fake for some reason. Even though he seemed to be genuine about lending her a helping hand if needed. Glancing at the blocked off alleyway, Shura asked nonchalantly, “So the body was found between those apartment buildings over there right?” She had said this while pointing to where the alley was closed off.

George opened his mouth but was interrupted when Ryan spoke up first, “It is, the body was found near the end, the rope around her neck was attached to a pipe that attached the two buildings together. The victim was a young girl, looking to be about 15 years of age, although we have yet to identify her. She didn’t have any ID on her, just like all of the past victims.”Ryan seemed to know what he was talking about, interrupting the older man might not have been the smarted move. George’s face twisted into a sour grimace as his focus returned to the younger man. He definitely didn’t appreciate it. His eyes narrowing with hate as he glared daggers at the younger guy’s head. 

Shura decided right then and there that she didn’t like this George guy one bit. Grabbing the young man’s arm, Shura cheerful pulled him towards the alleyway and away from the other exorcist. “Come on Ryan, why don’t you show me were they found the body.” Caught off guard, Ryan struggled to keep up with Shura’s fast pace, his face turning red as Shura held his arm right against her cleavage. Shura knew she was embarrassing the young man, but the look on his face made it all worth it. It was kind of cute seeing him all flustered like that.

Once several feet away, Shura slowed down to a casual walk. Shura’s green eyes honed onto Ryan’s brown ones as she asked, “What was his problem?” Ryan looked away, breaking the short lived eye contact. “He’s just angry that he was put on this case. It seems the death of a half demon isn’t worth his time. Nor is he pleased with having to work with one.” As Ryan spoke, Shura could hear the bitterness in his tone, and she couldn’t blame him. Shura knew there were many exorcists who seemed to have a grudge with anyone with demon blood. And while she knew that way of thinking was wrong, she also understood where they were coming from. There had always been a few exorcists who didn’t like the idea of humans and demons intermingling, but the blue night had just made things so much worse.

Those around Shura’s age would have been children during the blue night, many of whom would have witnessed the horrifying deaths of their loved ones at the hands of Satan. Shura herself would never forget the stench of burning flesh, of the broken cries of the grieving. She personally knew several young exorcists who had been severely traumatized by what they had experienced that night. The very sight of a blue flame was enough trigger them into hysteria. But this was different, these half demon children had nothing to do with the blue night, they were innocent. And if George can’t see that, he better slay out of Shura’s way.

Snorting, Shura said, “Then he’s an idiot. Half demons are more human than their given credit for. No one should be judged for the blood they were born with.” Ryan nodded his head in agreement. He was a good guy, Shura found him to be rather interesting. It also helped that he was pretty good looking to boot. 

At the entrance to the alley, the two exorcist standing guard greeted Shura before letting the two through. It was rather dark in the alley, not much sunlight getting through the narrow space between the neighboring buildings to light the area beyond. A small group of exorcists could be seen further in, a white sheet covering a small figure that lied on the ground off to the side. That was probably for the best; Shura wasn’t really up to seeing a dead kid this morning, or any morning to be honest. A rope still hung from pipe that connected both buildings, end tied into a noose. A few members of the group could be seen looking for evidence, the rest where discussing what they have and haven’t found so far.

With a wave, Shura greeted the gathered exorcists, “Hey, what have you guys found so far?” A short woman with tied back brown hair and glasses looked away from the group to where Shura was standing. The woman, who didn’t look much older than Shura, held a hand out, a genuine smile on her round face. “You must be Ms. Kirigakure; we really appreciate your help.” Shura shook the woman’s small hand then looked around the small cramped space. “So what have you guys found so far?” Those words seemed to hit the group like a bunch to the gut. It was like the air had dropped several degrees. Looks of frustration and shame could be seen on many faces, a few even lowering their heads. Clearing her throat, the woman sounded uneasy as she said, “Unfortunately we didn’t find anything we having already found at other investigations. All we know so far is that the killer has to be human due to lack of demonic residue.”

Unease settled into Shura’s gut, for some reason she had a bad feeling this woman wasn’t being completely honest with her. She wasn’t sure why though. Shura wanted to call her out on it, but thought better of it. Without any evidence or logical reason to think that, it would only look like unfounded accusations, and those were dangerous. Looking around the alley, Shura noticed many small holes and crevasses in the sides of the buildings that humans wouldn’t be able to look through. That would be how she would help. Summoning for her many snake familiars, Shura sent them scattering into every nook and cranny that they could fit into.

Ryan had watched the snakes move with an amazed expression, “How do you control so many snakes?” He was clearly impressed. With a metaphorical pat on the back, Shura couldn’t help brag a little. “You know, with talent and hard work.” It had come out in a teasing manner, but the young man nodded in understanding anyway.

With the other exorcists keeping to themselves, and her snakes out looking on her behalf, Shura decided this would be a good time to get to know Ryan Paddock a little better. “So Ryan; how old are you?” It was clear the question had caught him off guard; he mustn’t have been expecting a casual conversation. Though he did respond, “I just turned twenty-one a few weeks ago.” Shura could help herself as she laughed and roughly patted him on the shoulder, “Congratulations kid, you know legally drink. You want to go have drink when this is over? My treat, consider it a late birthday present.” Ryan tried to tell her that wasn’t necessary, but Shura insisted. It wasn’t difficult to make Ryan cave and agree. With that out of the way, asked another question, this one less of a question and more of an observation. “So I take it that your half demon right?” Surprisingly Ryan shook his head, “technically I’m only one-fourth; my dad was half demon you see.” Shura heard the way Ryan had spoken in past tense, his dad must have passed away.

Shura was saved from having to respond when her snakes returned. One of the snakes held a key in its mouth. Shura crouched down and took it from the snake. Holding the key close to her face, Shura instantly recognized it as one of the special space warping keys that all exorcists carried with them. The sight of it made Shura’s stomach drop, why was this here, had someone dropped it? Though considering how valuable they were, if someone here had dropped one they would be desperately looking for it. No one here seemed to doing that, making the key’s appearance all the more worrying. Shura didn’t like the implications.

Standing up, Shura stuffed the key in her pocket. No one other than Ryan had been paying her any mind at that moment. He was the only one present that Shura felt that she could trust. Her gut was telling her that informing the others about this would be a bad idea; she would inform Mr. Garraway personally. Just then the sound of approaching feet steeps appeared from behind. Glancing behind her, Shura saw George Zeigler walking towards them. Running a large hand through blonde hair, Zeigler asked if anyone had found anything. The short brown haired woman from before answered him with ‘no’. It would seem that Zeigler was the one leading this investigation, and considering his lack of concern, Shura knew that wasn’t a good thing.

When no one reported anything new, Zeigler told everyone to pack up and to have the body sent to the morgue for further examination. Shura didn’t like the idea of stopping so soon, but she wasn’t in charge here, so there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Shura watched as a couple exorcists grabbed a stretcher and placed the body on top. As the body of the young girl was being carried away, Shura sent a few of her snakes to keep searching the area. It was always possible the killer might come back, especially if they were the one who dropped the exorcist key. Shura may not have had a chance to do much here today, but she knew that Andrew would want a report from her anyway. With nothing left to do, Shura turned on her heel and walked back the way she had come. Looking back at the younger exorcist, who hadn’t moved from where he had been standing, Shura asked, “You want to accompany me to headquarters?”

Ryan nodded his head, black hair bouncing around red horns. The quarter demon quickly caught up with Shura as they left the alley. Stopping in front of a locked door that lead into one of the apartment buildings, Ryan pulled out a key, “I’ll open a door to headquarters.” Shura shook her head, “I’d rather walk, I need to clear my head before I try giving a report to Garraway.” Ryan nodded his head in understanding and put the key away. “I’ll walk with you.” Shura appreciated the company, sometimes it was nice to just hang out with someone.

About ten minutes later, Ryan and Shura were walking through the neighborhood that Shura had seen the little café earlier. The two stopped at a crosswalk, Cars driving by in both directions. Several others were waiting alongside them, most on their phones as they waited for the light to change. Luckily they didn’t have to wait long. Cars slowed down to a stop as the traffic light turned red, the little stick person on the crosswalk lighting up. Halfway across the street, Shura noticed the pedestrians that were heading in the opposite way as she and Ryan was.

Her eyes fell onto an eerily familiar face. An older man with white hair and glassed walked past her. Shura didn’t even realize she had stopped walking to watch the older man until Ryan had grabbed her arm. “Shura don’t stop in the crosswalk, you’ll get hit by a car.” Those words snapped Shura out of whatever trance she had been. She had been so close to chasing after him. That man had looked just like Shiro Fujimoto, but Shura knew that he couldn’t have been, he was dead after all, has been for the past sixteen years. A strong part of her still wanted to run after him, but glancing back, Shura saw that he had disappeared from sight, lost in the crowd of people. With a sigh, Shura pushed forward, there was no way it could have been him anyway.

Shura and Ryan arrived outside Andrew Garraway’s office just as Ziegler was leaving. The unpleasant man had a dark scowl on his face, his angular features twisted with blind rage. He stomped past them without a single word, loud footsteps fading as he got further away. Shura wandered what had got under his skin, oh well, it wasn’t like it was any of her concern. She then knocked on the wooden double doors with the back of her hand. The head of the New York branch answered right away, telling them to come in. Walking into the room, Shura made her way to the large mahogany desk that set in the back of the large office, placed in front of two large windows, their curtains currently closed, blocking the view of the street below.

The office was the same as it was the last time Shura had been here, though she had been accompanied by a certain white haired half demon. The walls where covered with a cream colored wallpaper; the floor a thick maroon carpet. Picture frames where scattered across the office. Some showing pictures of Mr. Garraway with his wife and child, others with only him and his wife. Mr. Garraway had told Shura that his daughter was about to start the exorcist cram school, and how proud of her he was. He was clearly a dotting parent, as far as Shura was concerned. There was even a picture of an elderly couple who Shura believed to be his parents. The man behind the desk greeted them with a welcoming smile, “Thank you for coming Shura, I would love to hear your report, it has to be better then what Ziegler gave me.” An aggravated undertone could be heard as Mr. Garraway said that.

Andrew Garraway is a middle aged man appearing to be in his mid forties. His perfectly cut brown hair was peppered with stands of dark gray hair. A pair of black rimmed glasses rested on his straight nose, covering pale blue eyes. From their first meeting, Shura knew that Mr. Garraway was of average height, though slightly on the tall side. He has a wide build, not fat just muscular.

Clearing her throat, Shura explained everything she had seen during her short time on the crime scene. She even handed him the key she had found with her snakes. A deep crease had formed between his eyes at the sight of it. He clearly had come to the same conclusion that Shura had. There was a possibility that the killer they were looking for was an exorcist. The thought didn’t sit well with Shura; it was true they would have to tread carefully. Who knew how many could be involved. Mr. Garraway seemed to have thought the same thing for his next words were, “We’ll keep this between us for now, I don’t want to start a witch hunt until we know with absolute certainty that the killer is one of our own.” That was reasonable, both Shura and Ryan, who had remained silent up till this point, nodded then replied with, “Yes Sir.”

With a sigh, Mr. Garraway rubbed bridge of his nose, looking exhausted. “There’s one more thing I would like to discuss with you Ms. Shura.” Apparently he wasn’t able to pronounce he last name, so he just refers to her as ‘Shura,’ not that she really minds anyway. “Considering that fact that eight individuals have been killed so far, and the lack of progress in the case, I was forced to put my foot down and remove George Ziegler as the lead exorcist on the case.” That explains why Ziegler had been in a bad mood earlier. “I would like for you to take over as lead exorcist on the case. I know you’ve just arrived in America recently, but I can already tell that I can trust you with this.”

Those words make Shura feel both flattered and honored, to think the head of the New York branch would grow to trust her so quickly, it was kind of nice. So of course Shura agreed, “I’ll be glad to, I don’t want anyone else to die. No one deserves to die just because they have demon blood.” When Shura catches whoever is responsible, she will drag them before the Grigori and make sure they’re punished for their crimes. “Thank you Shura, I really appreciate your help.” It was no big deal, Shura was happy to help. Mr. Garraway then dismissed them, “That’s all for today, I’ll let you know if anything else comes up.”

Once Shura and Ryan had returned to the hallway, the Shura stretched her arms over head. The day had just started and she was already exhausted. Turning to Ryan, Shura gave him a big grin. “You want to go get that drink now, I could use one.” Checking the watch on his left wrist, Ryan replied wit, “Don’t you think it’s a bit early for a drink.” Shura hated to admit it, but he had a point, as an exorcist you never know when you might get called in for a mission. “Ok, how about this, we’ll go to this café I saw on the way to the crime scene. It’s called ‘Okumura Sweets,’ I want to try it out.” Recognition flashed in Ryan’s eyes, “I know that place, I’ve been there once before. It’s really good and the owner is a really sweet person, you have to try it.” Well that settled it, slinging an arm around the taller man’s shoulder, “Let’s get going then, Okumura Sweets, here we come.”

Shiro

Shiro lay stretched out on the sofa, head resting in his wife’s lap. Soft fingers wove their way into white hair as Yuri looked down at him, blue eyes filled with affection. It hadn’t been long sense they had gotten back from open house, Yuri and Yoko had beaten them home by a good solid hour. That hadn’t been much of a surprise sense she only had to meet one set of teachers, while Shiro had to meet both Rin and Yukio’s. The kids had gone out to play not long after, leaving Shiro and Yuri alone in the apartment. Shiro felt exhausted, it was as if everything was happening all at once, and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it. Firstly, there was Yukio’s weakening seal. Shiro had always known that the seal used to seal away Yukio’s demon heart was weaker then Rin’s, it had been made with a last minute container. So it wasn’t too much of a surprise to see it start to break down first, Shiro had been expecting it. But it didn’t really hit home until Shiro saw Yukio swatting away a coal tar that flew to close to his face. Yukio had definitely started seeing demons, if that hadn’t been evidence enough. It was only a matter of time before the seal broke altogether. Deep down, a part of Shiro had wished they would never have to deal with it, that things would always be this way. Unfortunately the world doesn’t work that way, nothing can be put off forever. The past always has a way of catching up to you eventually, whether you want it to or not. 

_Shiro stood before the hidden drawer in the closet, small box in hand, watching the gun leak demonic energy. This was bad, after all these years, the seal was finally starting to brake. Shiro didn’t know how they would protect the twins if they were to start spewing flames. Numbly, Shiro set the gun aside and pulled out the blue sheathed sword. The seal seemed to be fine, no demonic energy leaking out of it like Yukio’s. At least Rin was safe for now, though he and Yuri were going to have to tell them the truth soon. Shiro returned the sword to the secret compartment, but kept the gun out. He had to show Yuri, she needed to know what was happening. _

_Shiro felt himself cringe as he flipped the light switch. Yuri didn’t like being woken up, whether it be early in the morning, or right after going to sleep. No one messed with her rest without having to deal with her cranky side. _

_Yuri sat up as light woke her up, an angry pout being shot his way. Shiro knew that she was trying to look angry, but she just ended up looking adorable. Shiro made his way over to the bed, box in hand. Yuri watched him, her pout turning into a concerned look as she noticed what he was holding. “We have a problem Yuri,” That was all Shiro said as he sat the box on the bed for her to see. A little color drained from her face when she looked inside. Yuri then composed herself, blue eyes looking into red as she said, “It’s time we tell them the truth. We promised we would if their seals ever started to break down.” Shiro remembered that promise, they had made that promise not long after settling into their new lives. They had both agreed it would be best to tell them before they burst into flames, but not before they had to. Now they had to. _

_But this was a delicate situation, Shiro wasn’t sure how to explain to the twins that he wasn’t their real father, or that their real father just happened to be Satan, the god of all demons. They were going to have to think out how they would approach the subject. Shiro really didn’t want to have that conversation. He knew that there was a good possibility that Rin and Yukio would become angry and upset over being lied to their whole lives. If they did, Shiro wouldn’t be able to blame them; they would have a right to be upset._

_But worrying over what hasn’t happened yet wasn’t going to get them anywhere. Looking over at Yuri, Shiro saw that she too seemed to be in deep thought. They were going to have to handle this carefully and reassure them that they loved. Shiro almost jumped when Yuri spoke up, “We’ll tell them Saturday, that way we can make sure they don’t make plans to do anything that day. We’ll have to just sit them down and tell them as gently as possible.” Shiro nodded his head; Saturday would be good. It would give them enough time to mentally prepare themselves for the inevitable. “It’s settled then, Saturday.” _

Shiro wasn’t looking forward to telling Rin and Yukio the truth. There was really no way of knowing how they would take it. But at least they only had to wait one more day. Tomorrow they will get it over with, and what happens after hopefully will be no different than now. Yuri had taken the day off in order to take Yoko to her open house, so they had the rest of the afternoon together. There was nothing Shiro loved more than times like these, just being with the one he loved. With everything on his mind it was difficult to relax, even with his head in Yuri’s lap. Although the eroding seal wasn’t the only thing plaguing Shiro’s mind at the moment. 

There was something else that had him deeply worried. He had seen Shura Kirigakure earlier that day while he had been out on a stroll. Shiro had recognized her the moment he laid eyes on her scantily clad form. She may be older now, and busty as hell, but Shura still looked the same as when she was a child. There was no mistaking her for anyone else; Shura just has that unique appearance. The sight of her had him hurrying across the crosswalk as fast as he could go without drawing attention to himself. He thought he was going to have a heart attack. Shiro had been scared that she would recognize him as well, luckily she didn’t. At least, Shiro didn’t think she did. The fact that Shura hadn’t gone after him was would suggest that. Shiro had even been late getting home, having made a quick stop to collect himself. 

The last time Shiro had seen Shura, she had been only eleven years old. At the time she was being taken care of by Asylum, the exorcist cram school that trained orphaned children with masho to become exorcists. Shiro had always wondered if she past the exorcist certification exam, or if she had decided not to be an exorcist after all. Thinking back, Shiro recalled seeing the true cross pin pinned to her jacket. She definitely became an exorcist. And if that was the case, he couldn’t let her know that he was alive. After all these years, she wouldn’t have any obligation to help him, not after he abandoned her when faking his death.

Shiro would never forget the day he met Shura, it had been on a mission to investigate a demon attack on a village in Aomori near Lake Towada. He hadn’t expected so find a wild child ridding a giant snake demon terrorizing the place. After saving her from the hydra demon known as Hachiro, Shiro named the child Shura, who at the time only seemed to have a last name, and brought her back to the Japan Branch with him. The girl had been attacked to him ever sense, even getting attached to Yuri when the two of them finally met. But that was ancient history now; she would never forget him for leaving her behind, Shiro was sure of it.

Shiro had explained the encounter to Yuri the moment they were alone. He knew that her being this close was going to cause problems. Evan after all these years, his and Yuri’s appearance hadn’t changed to drastically. Anyone who had known them well in the past, like Shura for instance; would be able to identify them easily. Shiro knew that worrying wouldn’t help, it’s not like he could do anything about her anyway. It’s been over a decade sense he last fought, and Shiro knows very well he was a little out of shape, plus his age didn’t help either. If Shura ever did discover them, there wouldn’t be much he could do to stop her from reporting them to the Knights of the True Cross. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.

Yuri continued to run her fingers through his hair, trying to comfort him the best way she knew how. It was definitely working; he could feel the stress of the last few days melting away at her tough. As far as Shiro was concerned, he was getting to old for this. But at least he wasn’t alone; he had Yuri by his side, just as he would always be by her side. They have each other, and there children, and for Shiro that was all he’s ever needed. 

Rin

Rin stood behind the swing set hands held out in front of him as he gave Yoko’s back another push. Yoko’s body swung forward into the air, her legs kicking out. She squealed in delight, haughtier escaping her lips. Yoko has always loved it when Rin pushed her on the swings; he always pushed her high up. Rin was laughing to as Yoko’s small form flew back down towards him. Yoko hollered out, “Higher,” Rin’s outstretched hands pushed her back into the air. Yoko went up a little higher, though not by much. While Rin loved to see his little sister smile, he is smart enough to know that her swinging to high up was dangerous.

They were currently at the park across the street from their apartment complex. Ambrose sat on the next swing over; he joined them not to long ago. He watched Rin push Yoko on the swing, his face showing mild interest. Then out of the corner of his eye, Rin watched Ambrose push himself back as he began to swing higher and higher. At one point he even reached a dangerous height as he almost became level with the bar. Rin was half expecting him to go flying off and break his face. Luckily that didn’t happen, Ambrose had always been good about keeping himself balanced.

Yoko pointed to Ambrose swinging and said, “I want to go that high.” This got the immediate response of, “not going to happen! If you fall of and break your brake your neck, mom will kill me, raise me from the grave, and kill me again.” Ambrose snorted, clearly finding what Rin had said to be funny. “I didn’t know your mom was a necromancer. When did she start practicing the occult?” Glaring daggers at his best friend, Rin replied with “Shut up Ambrose.” Ambrose shrugged his shoulders before swinging rather high into the air and jumping off. In the past, the sight would have scared the shit out of Rin. Ambrose landed on in a crouch, completely fine. Rin has grown used to his friend’s dangerous habits. Yukio stood not too far off, watching them between flipping through his phone.

Rin had enjoyed the rest of open house, meeting his new high school teachers had been more enjoyable then he thought was possible. Even if Rin didn’t like the idea of going back to school, he still liked the idea of returning as a high schooler. The thought filled him with pride; kiddy school was over, now it was time for the real thing. While Rin and Yukio shared a few of the same teachers, it was with different classes. At one point they even saw the school’s indoor pool, with looked amazing. It had reminded Rin of the public pool they always visited during the summer. They even saw the track field out back, and other sport fields. After being given a sheet of paper with the school’s extracurricular activities, Rin already knew he wanted to join the cooking club. His high school years were going to be great.

As Yoko’s swinging slowed down to a crawl, she looked up into Rin’s face with her big red eyes. “Hey Rin, let’s go to mom’s café. I know she’s not there right now, but I’m getting kind of hungry. Will you buy me something to eat?” Yoko looked at him with her famous puppy eyes. That was cheating, how could Rin ever say no to that? Grinning, Rin nodded his head, “Of course I will. You want to go now?” Rin knew that this might spoil her dinner, but to be fair, he wouldn’t mind something either. Looking over to Yukio and Ambrose, Rin asked, “Hey! You want to go to mom’s café? I’m going to take Yoko to get a bite to eat?” Rin still has money on him from saving up his allowance. Ambrose agreed with a shrug, “Sure, why not.” Yukio agreed as well, seeing as though everyone else had agreed to go. “Well let’s go,” grabbing hold of Yoko’s smaller hand, Rin made his way out of the park.

Several minutes later, the group of four found themselves walking into the café owned by their family. Okumura Sweets is a café their mom opened up about five years ago. She had always loved cooking; she had been the one to teach Rin when he was younger. This place was like a dream to Yumi, it had taken her years to buy a building to open her own café in. Ever sense it opened, Rin has always liked to help out whenever had time. Walking through the door, the group was greeted by one of the waitresses Rin was familiar with. Her name is Loren, a young woman in her twenties who has worked here sense the place first opened. “Hey guys, how was open house?” Loren led them to a table near the back by the jut box. “It went grate,” Yukio responded to the waitress. “It was nice seeing the high school; we’ll be attending this year.” Loren nodded along, “I know what you mean.”

Sitting down at a booth, Rin sat on the outside, while Yoko sat beside him on the inside. Yukio and Ambrose where on the other side, Ambrose sitting on the outside like Rin. As Yukio and Yoko talked to Loren about open house, Rin noticed a couple sitting in a booth opposite of them. Well there was no way of knowing if they were an actual couple, or just friends. Rin’s eyes were drawn to the red headed woman in the short shorts and bikini top. As far as Rin was concerned, she was bratty hot. At the moment she was chatting away with a young man wearing a white button down shirt, a long black coat can be seen resting on the bench beside him. Half eaten plates sat before them as they spoke at a low volume Rin couldn’t hear. Looking at her, Rin couldn’t help but notice how the sight of her made her uneasy. It was the strangest thing, it almost felt like instinct. 

A hand waved before his eyes, catching his attention. Looking up, Rin saw Loren looking down at him expectantly. “Well what do you want Rin?” Tearing his eyes away from the woman, Rin ordered his usual. It seemed that everyone else had already ordered and they were waiting on him. He must have zoned out there. Having written down all their orders Loren excused herself. Loren returned not long after with their drinks, then walked over to the table with the couple to check on them.

The inside of the café has this homely feeling to it. The top half of the walls was covered in a cream wallpaper with a swirl pattern, while the lower half was a dark brown wooden paneling. The flooring is a red, black and white diamond shaped checkered pattern. A high half wall separated the main sitting area from the hallway that led to the restrooms. Rin still remembers when his mom was trying to work out how she wanted her café to look. Both him and Yoko had given her ideas until the current design had been worked out. This place was definitely something special. 

Rin paid for his and Yoko’s food while Yukio and Ambrose both paid for their own. Rin definitely enjoyed himself, nothing beat hanging out with friends and family. Looking over to the table across from them, Rin saw that the two had already left. He hadn’t even noticed them get up and leave. It’s not like it mattered anyway, there was no way Rin could ever talk to someone like that anyway. “We should be getting home; we don’t want to make our parents worry.” Yukio said as he looked down at his watch. Rin really didn’t want to call it a day, but oh well.

As they make their way out, Rin saw the couple standing outside the café. Outside in the sunlight, Rin was able to get a better look at the red headed woman. Her shorts looked even shorted now that she was standing then when she had been sitting down. How that was possible, Rin didn’t know. The two looked up in their direction as they exited the building. A sudden look of recognition crossed the red head’s face as her gaze fell onto Yoko. Noticing the woman looking at her, Yoko gazed back at her, her eyes shining with aw.

Yoko then walked over to the woman with the long red hair, “Wow, you’re really pretty Miss.” The woman blinked a few times, a bashful grin forming. She clearly had been caught off guard. “Thanks kid, I bet you’ll be a looker yourself one day.” Folding bear arms over a large chest the woman then asked, “So do you kids visit this place often?” Yoko enthusiastically nodded her head, ‘Yea our mom owns the place. Sometimes my brother Rin helps out.” The woman let out a laud laugh, “What a coincidence. This was my first time here; tell your mom I really enjoyed the place. I think I’ll b back.”

Yoko seemed happy to hear that, looking over at the man, who has been quiet this whole time, Yoko asked innocently, “Is he you’re boyfriend?” The man seemed to have gotten flustered at the question, finally speaking up, “No we’re just colleagues, it’s nothing like that. A playful look formed on the woman’s face as she threw an arm over his shoulders, “Really? And here I thought we had something special.” The man stared at her like she had grown a second head. Laughing, the woman decided to go easy on him, “Just kidding, you need to loosen up kid.” The dark haired man rolled his brown eyes before nudged her arm with an elbow, “Don’t you think we should be going.”

The woman gave him a blank look before realization downed on her face. “OH yea, we should.” Turning back towards Yoko, the woman held a tanned hand out, “the name’s Shura Kirigakure by the way, it was nice to meet cha.” Yoko shook the woman’s hand, “It was nice meeting you to, my name’s Yoko Okumura.” With a warm smile, Shura patted Yoko’s head. “Well aren’t you well mannered.” Shura then turned on her heal and waved goodbye, “Later.” The man told them goodbye as well before fallowing his companion.

On the way home, Rin found himself thinking about what his parents wanted to talk about. The day after their trip to Mephy Land, their parents had sat Yukio and Rin down and told them that they needed to have a serious talk with them Saturday. Rin has asked why they couldn’t just get it over with now, but his mom had just said that it was something very important and they needed to make sure everyone was mentally prepared. That had made Rin nervous. What could they have to talk about that would be that serous? They weren’t going to drop an adopted bomb shell on them were they? No, that’s not possible, Rin looks just like his mommy. Rin thought and thought, but nothing really came to mind. He would just have to wait until tomorrow to find out. He really hoped it wasn’t something bad.

Ainsley

Walking across rooftops of closely packed buildings, Ainsley kept herself hidden in the shadows. Down below, a white haired teen sat crouched in an alleyway, spray can in hand as he shook it. A disposable mask covered the lower half of the boy’s face, his eyes being the only thing visible. A long tail swayed behind him as he began to draw on the wall of the building. The spray paint came out an acid green, glowing like neon in the dark. The demon Ainsley was currently tailing is Astaroth, the King of Rot, and one of Ainsley’s many uncles.

The king of Rot currently inhabited the body of some high school punk, and has been sense Ainsley first began tailing the more powerful demon about a week ago. Ainsley has kept her distance, watching. Curves and angles were drawn as the demonic Sigel of tracking formed onto the wall before him. He had been doing this for a while now, it was clear he was trying to track down like uncle Mephisto had said. Amaimon was a demon king to after all, so his absence would have been noticed, especially by his own kin.

Amaimon’s sudden absence had even caught Ainsley off guard, it had happened so suddenly. It had happened five years after the blue night. She had never really known why Uncle Amaimon had suddenly disappeared, but after speaking with Mephisto, she had a feeling she knew why. It was clear that Amaimon was doing something for Mephisto, something he didn’t want Satan to know about, and that was never a good thing. 

But that wasn’t the only thing Ainsley was doing. Over the course of the past week, she had been searching for information on Cordelia Evermore. The woman who had been her father, Azazel’s past love. Her disappearance was a mystery that has hurt her father for many years. It was unknown if she just left without warning, or if something had happened to her. The last time anyone had heard from her, Cordelia had been pregnant with Azazel’s child, Ainsley’s young half sibling. She was just was as concerned over the missing Cordelia as her father was. She had vanished about 15 years ago, a year after the blue night. Ainsley promised she would find both Cordelia and her child, and Ainsley always kept her promises.

Having finished spray painting sigil, Astaroth began spraying random junk onto the opposite wall. Crude pictures and vulgar langue being left behind in the ugly glowing green paint. It was so childish, it wasn’t a supervise that most of Astaroth’s vessels just happened to be delinquent teenagers, they seemed to be the ones he connected the ones with. The king of Rot only stopped when the can of paint ran dry. Throwing the spray can behind him, the demon king strolled out of the alley and down the busy sidewalk.

Ainsley continued to fallow her uncle from a distance, no one noticing her walking above them. Eventually Ainsley stopped for the night; it was too dangerous to fallow him for too long. It wouldn’t be good if Astaroth were to realize he was being fallowed. Turning back, Ainsley realized that she also failed to realize she was being tailed. Standing on the roof of some business, was none other than Shura Kirigakure. The upper first class exorcist was resting against the door leading to the stairs, arms folded behind her head. The human exorcist glared her way with narrowed green eyes filled with distrust. “What are you and that damn clown up to?” Shura asked rather sharply.

Ainsley sighed at the other woman’s words. “I’m here on personal business, both my own and Uncles. That is all you need to know.” Walking towards a latter system that lead to the ground below, Ainsley added, “As far as I know, we aren’t up to anything. You’ll have to ask Uncle himself if you want to know any more than that. I honestly don’t know, he doesn’t exactly tell me much either you know.” Ainsley hadn’t exactly been told much herself either. Shura could be heard groaning loudly behind her. “If what you’re saying is true, you better be careful. That clown can’t be trusted, even if he is family.” Shura paused then continued, “And if you’re lying to me, you’ll regret it. I don't take being lied to lightly.” Ainsley shrugged off the other’s threatening words, “I can see that.”

Just as Ainsley began to climb down, she asked one more thing, “Is there anything, or did you just come here to threaten me?” Shura tisked, looking away as she rested her hands on her hips. “I wanted you to help me with finding a killer.” That caught Ainsley’s attention. “There’s been a string of murders, all involving half demons. You were sent with to help me weren’t you?” Shura technically wasn’t wrong. Mephisto had sent her under the guise of helping Shura. It would look bad if she wasn’t doing that, so why not. Besides, what Shura said did bother her, half demons being killed? It would seem that Ainsley had been too wrapped up in her own problems to pay attention to the happenings of the New York Branch.

“I’ll help, let’s meet up tomorrow at noon at central park. You can fill me in one everything then.” Shura agreed to this, though she still didn’t seem happy. Well that wasn’t Ainsley’s problem. Without another word, Ainsley slid down the ladder, landing on the ground below with a soft thud. She then easily blinded in with the surrounding crowd, vanishing from sight. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys sorry about the late update. I know I said I would try to update sooner, but with everything going on I've been working more hours and have had less time to write. Well at least I finally got this chapter finished, it's a long one. I want to say thank you to everyone being patent with his story, I know i'm not the fastest updater. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. Comments are always welcomed to let me know what you thought and how I can improve for future chapters.
> 
> I wonder if you guys will find the name 'Garraway' to be familiar, it has been mentioned in a past chapter. Plus I decided to start killing arc sooner in this version, who knows how this will tie into everything else.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the beginning of this family's new life. This was my first blue exorcist fanfic, and I had so many ideas for it. Its nice coming back to it after so much time. If you liked how it started, please leave a kudos and a comment to let me know what you thought. Comments are always welcome to let me know what i need to improve on.


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